I fully agree. The candles->whale blubber->petroleum analogy fails because those are natural resources with prior existence. They only needed to be found.

A different AI algorithm to make a massive decrease in learning needs a paradigm shift. Something that works more like the human brain. That must be invented.

We do not yet understand well enough how our brain works to be able to write those algorithms. To me it is questionable if humans as a whole can be smart enough to understand an entire system of which we are a part.

Let's be optimistic and say we are that clever as a species. Expecting such a breakthrough in "just a few years" is VERY optimistic, IMO.