An old proverb that remains true. Wartime is when most technology really advances because that’s when necessity is greatest. In fact, the constant state of war somewhere on Earth at any given time may be deliberate to drive our continued technological advances.
Right now, our greatest need is energy. Electricity. The mass production of electric cars and trucks and all the electrical gadgets that have replaced the old hand-operated devices, the AI industry, cryptocurrency mining, the Internet, the migrations of people from poor nations with low to no electric grid to First World developed nations, has put an enormous strain on the ability to provide the needed power.
A breakthrough is necessary to provide more power. It could be fusion power or some other new way of either generating power or drawing it from an inexhaustible source. It has to happen or the overloaded power grids that exist now will fail, and if they do, everything else will fail along with them. Everything in civilization will shut down and end if the power grids fail. Everything.
We will have a breakthrough. I have no doubt.