I understand the "if it works, it works"[1] argument, but I also get the despair in it too. We used to be leaders in advanced technologies, now we're not lagging but not leading in advanced technologies in the very visible "great society" ways. The mission and the hope that technology could deliver.

[1] Taking this too far let's us say horses and oxen "worked" at tilling fields --but very few people would argue modern agricultural machinery is superfluous.