I understand that the definition of redundancy and the awareness of the need for is long established; however, advances in engineering will make what was once state of the art obselete.
Yes, but probably not much in civil engineering (massive changes in electronics design, but not civil, e.g). Principles are still pretty much the same. And those old guys really knew their stuff. We’re being taught less and less in college these days - including practical projects. And relying probably too much on computers, hoping those who designed the software knew what they were doing and didn’t screw up.
But your post indicated that the definition of redundancy might change, which would be totally false and very misleading to those not knowing.