You make a good point that there is a difference between a rational society, and a rational framework for social interactions. I take a long view, and given certain technological developments underway (Neuralink and geriatrics) I do expect that reason, as necessarily colored by our humanity, will at least be the dominant factor in society.
By definition, less reasonable societies will be less competitive. The rise of the West during the age of exploration exemplifies this, as the drive to eradicate competing cultures, while inhumane, was certainly undertaken for reasons by the conquerors. The dominance of the West was enabled by technological superiority, in turn driven by rational science.
It also shows that your concern regarding the propensity of conquerors (or would be conquerors) to destroy that which they cannot control is well placed. This is why transitions are so bloody, and it is certainly possible that delaying the transition is possible, and we can find plenty of examples that show this.
All the more reason to harden Steemit against such manipulations, and better weaponize it against those megalomaniacal conquerors, speeding it's seminal genesis of a post market economy.