Constraints create coherence.
The constraints set the shape of the jello mold; the swarming exploratory competitive behavior is the slime mold that grows into the mold's shape, filling every niche.
Sometimes the answer to find new breakthroughs is to operate within different constraints.
If you were in the US trying to compete with frontier models, the answer was always to try to get H100's.
In China, they knew they couldn't get them, so they took it as a hard constraint... and that led to finding a radically more efficient model.
A couple of useful frames for game-changing thinking: