There is a limit, growth can't continue forever (especially the exponential growth we've been seeing). We've got to level off at some point

Why not? Do you think the society will soon stop inventing new things? They are clear indicators that evolved societies are disconnecting their growth from the energy usage, and especially carbon emissions. With that new heights are possible.

But besides this, yes, slow growth back like for most of humanity is also an option and probably not a bad one in the longer term. It’s a very bad option until we are depending on fossil fuels, because we need the money for the transition.

There is still an element of optimization which involves compressing the problem space. This might be why we see thin vertical segments, but they are way over-valued for the optimization they provide.

I think VCs' expectations misalign with reality. They are the ones incentivising infinite growth.