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Any sufficiently advanced science is indistinguishable from magic, or so it is said....

What science deals with is the MECHANICS of things. The nuts and bolts. The scaffolding.

A persistent cultural myth holds that the origin of science can be discovered in the activities of alchemists or in the forms of "shamanistic" activities. If you're a "high priest" of whatever persuasion, then the main thing is: You've got to get things "right," and most of the time. (If not, then you're presumably out of the job of foretelling the future....)

Questions: What is such scaffolding for??? What purpose does it serve?

It would perhaps be comforting to imagine that humans can freely intercede with Reality so as to adapt it to human "collective convenience." Then it merely reduces to a problem of:

Who determines what the "collective" is? Who determines what properties of Nature "universally" benefit whatever that "collective" is discovered to be?

These be the problems. JMHO FWIW.

Who determines what the "collective" is? Who determines what properties of Nature "universally" benefit whatever that "collective" is discovered to be?

There weren't supposed to be any determiners. Just value-free leadership seminars.

"What is such scaffolding for?"

Good question, because my answer will clarify bit more what I am trying to say.

My answer is: That's not a valid question.

Asking what is such scaffolding for is like asking "What is the meaning of this castle?.." by examining the Legos the castle is made of.

It's an unanswerable question, like "What is the color of A-flat?" Different spheres, apples and oranges.

But don't get me wrong, I am not criticizing you for asking the question.

If we were in fact made of Legos instead of atoms, we would be asking the same question, and end up getting the same non-result.

We need to determine the purpose by looking at the functions, not the ingredients. Mix tin and copper, two of the softest metals, and you get brass, one of the hardest. Totally unpredictable.