I think you are not convincing in your essay, you don't provide us reasons to believe you but you try to explain everything from examples but the example you give; are they a reflection of the values or created by media, I don't think so.
This is a good one, but just one point: I am doubtful if focusing this much on technology and inventions for this topic is right, for example, I would expect an example about a war and what people learnt from it.
Yes, that comment seems a little subjective. I just don't think that those examples are suitable for that topic. I just feel it would be better to give examples from the really (?) great discoveries. These examples from biotechnology and nasa seem monotonous research activities, but as I said this is my idea.