Locobot

I don't agree with that, at least not on any substantive societal level. I agree that authoritarianism enforces unity through state control and this may have the infantilization-to-fragmentation/indivdualism/rebellion effect that you're describing on a small scale, but not for the masses. Sure Stalin created Solzhenitsyn (author of "the Gulag Archipelago"--probably the most damning critique of Stalinism) but he also enjoyed the support of the vast majority of his population. For every Solzhenitsyn there were 10 million ardent Communists. If you go to Russia today you will find most older people still support Stalinist Russia even though it no longer exists. I defy you to compare positively the individualism and diversity of any authoritarian government with that of an equally sized non-authoritarian nation. You may argue for the scientific achievements of Nazi Germany, but I would remind you that German science superiority predated the Nazis (e.g. Werner von Braun's Rocket Club). Hitler may have cracked the whip for his war machine, but he was also burning books lets remember.