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Second Variety
Phillip K Dick
1953
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Second Variety is a science fiction tale published as part of a collection of short stories as well as independently as a novella. The plot starts with the remnants of the war between America and Russia. Having reduced the world to a dreary land with minimal human habitation surviving, Americans and Russians attempt to reach a truce. However, by then they have already created artificial intelligence that is powerful enough to create better robots that start destroying humans altogether and seem to have built an army of their own.
It seems similar to many tales that have been written in the post war era. The fear of robots taking over the planet caught many an imagination in the middle of the previous century. Probably the fear of what the world is likely to become was very real. Perhaps that is why Dick finds solace, at the end of the book, in the realisation that the robots had already evolved enough to have developed ways of fighting each other. Take whatever message you want to take from here. I recommend it a read to everyone who can spare an hour or two.