Therein lies the question.
Set 200 years in the future, Clifford Simak asks the question, if immortality were but a stones throw away, would God survive?
Like so many of the pioneer Science fiction writers, Simak pays respect to the idea of a deity, while questioning it's place in our future.
Plot: The world is effectively run and controlled by Forever Centre, the company behind cures to Cancer, other genetic diseases and is actively searching for the answer to immortality. Rumour has it, they're only 10-20 years away. Daniel Frost works for the centre as the PR guru. It's his job to quash any and all negative rumours from dissenting people across the world. One day, following a messenger mishap, Frost winds up with a note he shouldn't have. An innocuous note. Of not real import, he believes and as such, he pockets it for no other reason other than it was in his hand and the bin was further away. It isn't until Frost is framed by the head of security and evicted from the Human race that he begins to suspect there may have been something to that note.
Mass produced-uninteresting cars, no theatre or film and TV is the Opium for the masses. Simak introduces us to a future where the world saves all its hard earned money for their "second lives". They invest in stock/shares, stamps and other collectibles. Life is lived until it's over, then they are placed in stasis and re-animated in an immortal future-somewhat richer too.
Could you waste a full life, for the chance at life everlasting?
Sad fact: Simak died on my birthday- April 25th.
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