Dysfunctional society -> Merit signaling institutions established -> Functional society -> signal counterfeiting -> Gresham's law -> Reversion to instinctive tribal signaling -> Counterfeiters destroy merit signaling mechanisms to cover their tracks -> dysfunctional society.
Imagine if, when a ball of ants crosses a river, the ants on top somehow had a way to prevent the ants on bottom from fighting their way to the top, rotating the ball and thus preserving it's cohesion. The entire ball would drown. This is the absolute state of humanity.