This exchange is telling. The reality of Separation is a given in this conversation, with both parties agreeing that man is on his own in the universe. Their attitiudes toward this truth differ, however. The chief engineer clearly doesn't put his trust in any sort of unifying dream-ideal: for him the self alone is all that one can trust. He is a willing participant in the every-man-for-himself fray. The cynical doctor, on the other hand, argues that not only can no one else be trusted, but that the self cannot be trusted either. His is the doctrine of futility.