Well, I think you could apply a similar argument to any attempt to push forward the current state of technology :).

You are right that it will always be a mess — but maybe the mess will move to other, more advanced areas, while leaving the basics cleaned up. So I still think it’s worthwhile to work on solid approaches to software engineering, even the whole field advances further. Maybe especially so: once the initial turmoil has died down a bit, it’s time to clean this area up, and move to the next.