Well put.
But can we be sure what ideas will form the vanguard of the advance?
No, we can’t. I can only say that I think the new paradigm will be based on the last true advance, where the new ideas were based on respect for individual rights as opposed to group rights. Perhaps new Lockes, Hobbes, Jeffersons, Smiths will emerge, but I do think the malign influence of current generations now in charge, i.e. the Roosevelt generation and post WWII baby boom generation, will have to pass on, and things may have to get rough before Western Civ takes the next advance.