Once I was talking with G. in Moscow. I was speaking about London, where I had been staying a short while before, about the terrifying MECHANIZATION that was being developed in the big European cities and without which it was probably impossible to live and work in those im­mense whirling “mechanical toys.” Fragments: One

“And secondly,” he continued, “the MECHANIZATION you speak of is not at all dangerous. A man may be a man” (he emphasized this word), “while working with machines. There is another kind of MECHANIZATION which is much more dangerous: being a machine oneself. Have you ever thought about the fact that all peoples themselves are machines?” Fragments: One

“I think I understand what you mean,” I said. “And I have often thought how little there is in the world that can stand against this form of MECHANIZATION and choose its own path.” Fragments: One

“This is just where you make your greatest mistake,” said G. “You think there is something that chooses its own path, something that can stand against MECHANIZATION; you think that not everything is equally mechanical.” Fragments: One