In a world of infinite computing resources, I see no reason to provide multiple pages at all. Designs can accommodate the data to make it work nicely for the end user.
To appreciate what pagination does, just imagine a 500 page book. Now imagine having to read it on an ancient scroll. Pages make it easier for our brains to segment the information of a book or a long article by giving us a higher order rhythm within the content.
Or just take it one step further: why not eliminate line breaks? They're just as arbitrary as page breaks and there is no technical limitation on horizontal scrolling. But again, segmentation helps to form a mental model of the content.
This also is how many of the popular "reader" applications display the paginated content, and there is no reason a web page couldn't be designed that way from the beginning as well. Or, with the number of amazing designers out there, maybe something completely different.
I agree breaks are important, I'm just not sure multi-request pagination is the best interface for that. We only accept it because it is often necessary due to computing limitations.