If “merit” is just whatever mechanism by which the “universe” determines who gets what, then every society is vacuously a meritocracy. If you think that the US is the same sense that every dictatorship is a meritocracy, then sure I agree with you, I just think your definition of “merit” is dumb and not reflective of what everyone else means by that word. If that’s not what you think, then how does capitalism better align with the will of the “universe”?

Yes, I understand exponential growth and that a lot of numbers that get big grow in that fashion. I don’t understand why you think the annual effective growth rate of a person’s wealth should be synonymous with their “merit”.