I feel like we lost the ability for true inspiration, as a species we are supreme at optimizing existing things, but not very skilled at recognizing whether what we optimize is really opportunity we should be pouring all our efforts into or if we should have looked around at all the other potential options before diving single-mindedly into the first idea we find - which usually the one with the most killing or control potentials.
But really science and innovation will rarely be truly beneficial because the motivation is corrupt now. We have moved away from solving survival challenges and exploring what is possible and the world around us, to money. If money is the motivation, the results are only ever going to be crappy. Heck you don't even need a good product to make a lot of money, you just need something people will think is good long enough to get investment, build your house of cards, and exit. Speculation is more profitable than the thing being speculated on.