[monadic2]

Common perception about soviet anything is generally wrong, at least in the us.

[rimliu]

This one is not. Computers were clones (IBM?), cameras were clones made on equipment brought from Germany, cars were clones of FIAT. (I grew up in USSR, for what it matters).

[blattimwind]

It's not like you could just walk up to some preserved soviet microelectronics and compare their technical sophostication (e.g. metal layers, feature sizes, power density) to contemporary Western technology.

[int_19h]

Not in this case, from personal experience living in the last years of the USSR. I remember just how "magic" the microwave ovens were to us, and how much better non-Soviet-made tape players and recorders were.

[CamperBob2]

And yet, we're still here, and they're gone.

I guess that's our fault, huh. It always is.

[monadic2]

The people of the USSR are most certainly still around.

[WanderPanda]

Maybe you didn‘t win each sprint, but you definitely won the marathon

[CamperBob2]

Eh, I dunno. We'll see. There are indications that the race didn't actually end, but took a turn through some very dark woods.

And unless your name is Pheidippides, there's not much point in winning a marathon if you die on the other side of the finish line.