Sure but based on the history of the last 125 years or so, that only happens after tens of millions have died and entire countries are leveled. And that was done with… 125 year old technology.

An awful lot of people die before it collapses, and even worse, a generation is corrupted.

Sure the forces that bring down fascist states are still there, but now we also have surveillance technology that can be used to keep control of the populace.

Last time one of the hard problems of fascism was that people weren't willing to do the amount of murder and surveillance required, and this time they're on the verge of murder bots that can do it instead and surveillance is already massively pervasive and penetrating.

While the then newfangled radio was a potent method of disseminating propaganda, today the tool chains for and scientific knowledge about how to efficiently 'manifacture consent', as it is sometimes called, are quite a bit more oppressive.

I have to remind myself Star Trek TNG starts with the crew being put on trial for the crimes of humanity and the terrible fascist court they're in is from the show's vision of a more immediate future than the one we were watching on the rest of the show.

Are there any signs in the movie Gattaca that the society is militaristic or surveils the population at all?

I don't remember any.

> transition from Republic to Empire

That transition happens after civic exhaustion, usually following violence. If Rome is a model, we’d expect to see tens of millions of Americans die.

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> Thiel's platform suggests that ordinary citizens are too stupid to vote in their own best interest, they just end up stalling progress; which Thiel will then point to MAGA as evidence of this.

I haven’t heard this, and I hope I’m not being given enough rope to hang myself either, but this kind of makes sense. MAGA has pretty completely shown beyond a shadow of a doubt that they will not vote in their own interests, or even the interests of their county, or anyone (as far as I can tell).

Thiel is the US' Zhang Zhidong:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_Zhidong

He could also be Shen Buhai, incarnate:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shen_Buhai

Either one of these figures could provide us clues as to how to head off Thiels' insanity.

> Thiel's platform suggests that ordinary citizens are too stupid to vote in their own best interest

What gave him that right to conclude it that way? There are plenty of us who think he’s an idiot to decide on other people’s behalf!!

> ordinary citizens are too stupid to vote in their own best interest

And the oligarchs have the best interest of the citizens in mind? If not, I don't understand the argument.

They already have. Look at the coverage of the Epstein case. One of the reporters from a major network was told to shelve it when he was arrested in 2006. Or Julian Assange: hardly covered his release at all, and never said anything about his years of detention without trial.

I see no evidence that we won’t go back there. Our grandparents built an entire world order around curtailing the kind of authoritarian competition that leads to wars between major powers, and we’re already watching it break down. Do you really look at this political world as the harbinger of another 75 years free of major global conflict?

I'm old enough. My own sense is this is much worse.

I have a friend that was afraid a nuclear bomb would eventually drop. I wasn't worried a bit about that though. So perhaps perception or state of mind made a difference.

I'm old enough to remember, and I disagree. I think this is the most frightening period in my lifetime.

Having caught the end of it, it was certainly scarier at the time, when there was direct threat of imminent, unavoidable death at the whim of some other country. We’re not there yet (well, most of us).

I think what’s scary now is the trajectory we’re on and how so many people seem desperate to keep the accelerator pressed hard to the floor.

I can remember the public information ads that advised families to hide under the stairs or under a table until the nuclear attack has ended.

I was. It wasn't great, but it was quite static, speaking for myself only. I'm sure it could depend on where you lived at the time.