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What is science for?

The Failure of Modern Science to Solve All Major Problems

We can see that the arrival of modern science, and the technological explosion that followed, did not provide the solutions that lived up to expectations with regard to major individual and collective problems.

Cause of failure

La phrase de Rabelais « Science sans conscience n'est que ruine de l'âme » dans son Pantagruel illustrates the problem: what is envisaged is an individual framework (personal conscience) of science instead of a collective framework (social organization).
What is really missing is an effective social organization such as that described in the book From capital to reason. A more helpful metaphor would therefore be to present science as the engine, and social organization as the steering wheel.

Usefulness of modern science for problem solving

Dealing with a problem involves carrying out the following process:
1. Recognize the problem.
2. Conduct a serious analysis.
3. Develop a solution, often partial.
4. Implement it.
Without even mentioning its great usefulness at the level of the analysis phase, science is of major use in developing a solution.

Deepen

Regarding the inadequacy of scientific subjects with our fundamental problems:
The conference Are we going to continue scientific research? by Alexendre Grothendick at CERN in 1972
The words of Matthieu Ricard in the first chapter (From scientific research to the spiritual quest) of the book The monk and the philosopher.

Regarding the social regulation of science and technology, see the Amish approach which consists of adopting only a subset of technological inventions.

Consult the question during 'Why the love of one's neighbor is not a solid basis for living well together?'