Something in my mind, lately, is the idea of the sophon (Three Body Problem) being something which can disrupt fundamental physics research, thus limiting human technological progress.

I was thinking about how we seem to have other ideas or approaches which do the same thing in terms of our ability to generally advance society across all avenues (including core technology). These seem to work by limiting human collaboration (sowing discord between people, making enemies where there could have been allies/colleagues) or by restricting the generation of ideas (power structures which determine which ideas can be formed or by artificially prioritizing ideas such that others languish and are forgotten).

I don't have a solution to any of this, as this seems to be something human societies "just do", but I think it is worth keeping in mind what the end result of an artificial limitation would be, in terms of the broader society. Essentially, in 500 years, is what you are doing going to matter and/or improve things (since most artificial conflict is very short-sighted) and what is the cost if your prioritization is wrong (since prioritization is not avoidable).

Not a very fully-baked thought but some trends I have seen did remind me of the idea behind the sophon in how they will limit us is a seemingly inorganic way,
...Nights