The USSR was technologically advanced until the end.
Stealing technology from the West help significantly.
(Even Slovakia produced computers those days. Sure, they were merely copies of foreign computers, but it didn’t reduce our pleasure from playing games on them.)
I guess in another discussion this could be an argument for abolishing patents: If you ignore the patents (as the communist countries did), you can have cool technology even when your people starve; so probably if you could feed them well, it would be even better.
Back to the original topic… in an alternate universe, where it would be impossible to copy the West, Soviet science and technology would be much worse.
Stealing technology from the West help significantly.
(Even Slovakia produced computers those days. Sure, they were merely copies of foreign computers, but it didn’t reduce our pleasure from playing games on them.)
I guess in another discussion this could be an argument for abolishing patents: If you ignore the patents (as the communist countries did), you can have cool technology even when your people starve; so probably if you could feed them well, it would be even better.
Back to the original topic… in an alternate universe, where it would be impossible to copy the West, Soviet science and technology would be much worse.