City

Now, in present day
Jupiter seems quite tempting
let the dogs rule Earth.

A great read by an author who I really appreciate for his ability to infuse the bleakest scenario with humanity and warmth. Human development sees everyone move to live on Jupiter, leaving the Earth to dogs and ants and robots. The dogs are the authors, and they are in a continuing debate about whether the mythical 'humans' ever really existed.

It was written as a bunch of related stories for a SciFi magazine over several years. Then he added an intro to each story to blend them into a whole as if they were consecutive chapters.

This book was a complete surprise. Written in 1952, Simak's view of the evolution of humanity and what is left behind seems very prescient. His references to AI and virtual reality, the downloading of minds into other creatures, all seem achievable within another generation. His use of robots as the steady overseer of man's creation, and ultimately a creator in its own right, hit me squarely in my SF-lover's core. Highly recommend.

Some absolutely gripping and thought provoking stories in this. Just the chronicling of time on display here is fascinating. I like how while this novel is very cynical of humanity and its society, there is a undefineable endearment to humanity present throughout, especially through Jenkins. Its almost as if humans became pets for Jenkins the way dogs were our pets.