The danger of the past was that men became slaves. The danger of the future is that man may become robots.

Fromm contrasts two forms of dehumanization. In earlier eras, domination was overt: people were reduced to “slaves” through coercion, rigid hierarchy, and external control. Modernity, he suggests, poses a subtler threat: individuals may come to resemble “robots,” conforming automatically to bureaucratic systems, mass culture, and technological routines. The warning is not primarily about machines gaining power, but about humans surrendering spontaneity, critical judgment, and genuine feeling—becoming efficient, compliant, and interchangeable. The line encapsulates Fromm’s humanistic concern that freedom can be lost not only by force, but also by voluntary adaptation to impersonal social and economic pressures.