Growth-Driving Science and Technology as a Deus-Ex-Machina for Policymaking

Science and technology (S/T) is perhaps the only remaining unbounded factor, whose advances can transform our lives. It is to S/T that people look for solutions to tough problems -e.g. regarding health, sustainability, economic growth, etc. These solutions however may simply postpone facing profound tradeoffs, which involve choices beyond the purview of S/T. Indeed, advances in S/T were hyped as the creators of a New Economy since the nineties. The invocation of the ability of S/T to permanently accelerate productivity growth was used to justify the huge credit expansion of recent years, and quell concerns about a series of bubbles in recent years. To what extent is this deus-ex-machina view of S/T applicable? Does it help or hurt the marriage of scientific rationality and policy? Ultimately does it help or hurt S/T itself?  How can the underlying tradeoffs be illuminated in a way that would benefit the rational pursuit of knowledge and its rapport with policymaking?