Japan comes to mind. (Not for outsiders though, I don't know how that's related to "nerds" and intellectuals.) Also, you're conflating different types of inte

Japan comes to mind. (Not for outsiders though, I don't know how that's related to "nerds" and intellectuals.) Also, you're conflating different types of intellectuals. Nerds who are interested in science and engineering frequently aren't all that interested in art, social justice/change, government/politics, etc. Germany under the Nazis certainly had a lot of engineering prowess. They didn't tolerate anyone who wanted to change the government, obviously, but they certainly made use of their scientists and engineers. The Soviets, similarly, were always been pretty strong at math and science (while not tolerating political dissent). Religious societies never seem to do very well with "nerds", and not too surprisingly, highly religious societies never seem to become strong in science and engineering or even industrialization. When they do, it's coincides with them watering down or neutering the religion, as we see in Western nations now.