The end of history will be a very sad time. The struggle for recognition, the willingness to risk one's life for a purely abstract goal, the worldwide ideological struggle that called forth daring, courage, imagination, and idealism, will be replaced by economic calculation, the endless solving of technical problems, environmental concerns, and the satisfaction of sophisticated consumer demands.
I think frugality drives innovation, just like other constraints do. One of the only ways to get out of a tight box is to invent your way out.
The future of AI lies in understanding causality, not just correlation.