I’m chewing on it now. The core idea seems to be that modern life trains us to treat everything as a tool, which then makes people easier to control. The idea that progress can end up flattening ideas completely.

They wrote this in exile after feeling Nazi Germany. They were trying to figure out how faith in reason led to Fascism. The idea that at some point, people start looking like and being treated like tools. I haven't gotten there yet, but I've heard other people talk about how they describe radio and Hollywood as soft levels of control too. It feels very relevant now.