Warning: this is a long post, split over two parts. Part II is coming soon. David Reinstein points me at a 2016 exchange between Bryan Caplan and Scott Alexander over a fine point of nomenclature: is the culture that is taking over the world “Western” or “universal”? Here’s Scott Alexander’s key point:
With Godwin's law in mind, the Nazis rejected modernism, but were at the forefront of exploiting modern technology.