i would argue there are fewer qualified academics being created in the U.S., because our educational system is declining and has been for some time, relative to other countries.
risking? it's been happing for years already. both in the "drain" sense, those leaving the US, and with fewer "brains" coming to the US from other places. also, with the decline in US academics, fewer are being created in the US to begin with. altogether, three different factors making a "brain drain".
amazingly, i have spoken to some elderly people, and not all were happier today than as kids. although who's to say how much their current circumstances and memory affect their recollection. and how can there be many MORE species that would have been extinct if not for us humans and our "progress" and technology, which is what drives their extinction in the first place?
what good is it to live in a great techno-wonderland if we've traded much greater gifts to get there? i could say perhaps you are too attached to the idea of progress, the idea that because time passes things must get better?
there are also things that are worse now. half of animal species alive in 1970 are now extinct. we have created new diseases as we've removed the threat of old ones. things like sitting outside and looking at the stars are harder, or listening to birdsong. the family no longer spends much time together. our lives are more virtual and less based in reality, which leads to a lower quality life and less happiness.
If China keeps giving western tech companies a hard time they might stop making their stuff in China. That would hurt the Chinese economy far more than they gain by local companies taking a little business from Apple and such.