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I believe the words to “give up” on what we previously thought to be fundamental is not the right way of looking at this. We don’t so much as give up our fundamental notions but evolve them based on our changing environment. Take special relativity for instance, Newton’s laws haven’t been given up just because of the constancy of the speed of light and Einstein’s special theory, rather they evolved based on findings as Einstein explored what happens as we move at velocities close to light speed. Newton’s laws haven’t been given up or abandoned even though they could be considered outdated. They have just evolved.
I heard a comment made by Brian Green that observations of the future night sky may lead future astronomers to determine a future universe to be dark and cold with sparsely distributed black holes resulting from the effects of the big chill. This may be the correct determination of future observations but what will future astronomers think of the discoveries of current day astronomers who describe our universe to be full of light and detailed structure? Will astronomers of the future determine our discoveries to be incorrect because they derive a different conclusion based on their observations or will they trust us that the universe was once as we describe it? We may be living through a unique period where the discoveries we make today may not be possible to make at any other stage in the life of the universe. I believe we cannot just assume that our knowledge will continue to grow in time. Without an effort to preserve the historical record and follow proper scientific processes, our future knowledge could in fact decline.
As as technologies such as A.I and quantum computing improve, we will have more powerful modelling tools with which to propose answers to complex cosmological questions. Answering deep philosophical questions such as the age of the universe gives us greater insight to who we are and where we came from. Just imagine if we found compelling evidence for or against a creator. How would that change how we see our fellow humans? My hope is that learning answers to deep questions about the cosmos brings humankind closer together and unifies us in ways we cannot even imagine.