Do we need the four madhabs/schools of thought? And why we need a MODERN one

I've always thought about this. I never really understood why the majority of Muslims today follow the Shafi, Hanafi, Maliki, or Hanbali schools of thought. What makes them so special? Are they specifically mentioned in the Quran or Sunnah? Nope. Did the Prophet pbuh and his companions follow them? Nope. Yet, the majority of Islamic scholars who came well after them, have followed one madhab. We literally treat these schools of thought as divine in some way. Why is it necessary to even care what they think? Who gave them the authority to interpret Islam for us? Why are we following Islam through a chain of scholars instead of DIRECTLY following Islam?

All four schools of thought have major differences in law and spirituality. They all have contradictory views on Quran and hadiths. Yet they are all seen as acceptable and valid by conservative scholars. It doesn't make sense.

So many conservative muslims today use the line "all four madhabs believe this, so we have to follow it". Who cares what they thought?

In looking at all of this, if we are to follow a madhab, why can't we have a modern day school of thought? As I mentioned many times before, the social, political, and economic measures that we have today are completely different than ever before. Yet conservative and orthodox Muslims do not want to change their ways. Even orthodox Islam today is different from orthodox Islam a hundred years ago, which was different from a hundred years before that, and so on and so on.

Some Muslims say just follow the Quran and Sunnah. But this is problematic because there is no one way to interpret Islam. Everyone who looks at the Quran and Hadith interprets it differently.

Just something to think about.