Formal religion bent a bit with the wind, held on, but with more subtle and serviceable, less dictatorial, techniques. While the jury is still out, and traditional reliance on the discreet and diplomatic may reappear, it seems that surprisingly little damage has been done in all this. Perhaps we have digested the transition and in the coming century can comfortably take disclosure for granted rather than gossiping in hushed tones. If so, we may have gained something. Of course there are negatives.
Broad trends thrive on momentum, to which they often resort in keeping themselves going.
Start down the road and there may be no turning back. Unhappily, this can lead to intolerable distortion and painful periods of balance recovery. For example, in the last half of our century we have allowed the notion of competition to slip its tether, to shake off restraint, adopting with semi-religious fervor the Darwinist principle that what survives is necessarily superior. Like its predecessors, this panacea does not always provide good answers. So we over commercialize life, and lose something of cultural value.