>>96264635
Well, yes. The Imperium by and large basically just dragged humanity down to an inferior level and stifled human achievement.

Ironically, if the Emperor had just done nothing, we probably would've seen a human empire more akin to the Tau rise up from the ashes, an coalition of humans and aliens working together with rapid innovation. But then the Emperor allied with the Mechanicus and blew up a bunch of humans until they agreed to be his slaves and the rest is history.