“It’s becoming hard to believe that our civilization will last much longer.”
If by “our” you mean the US I tend to agree given our level of idiocy and insanity, and with no end in sight.
China on the other hand, bad as they are, has learned its lesson and rewards meritocracy and that is why their economy went from a total basket case to one that is booming and soon will surpass ours.
China has a history of rewarding merit that goes back thousands of years.