The Street that wasn't There, Clifford Donald Simak and Carl Richard Jacobi

I'm not very familiar with Clifford Donald Simak (1908-1988) or Carl Richard Jacobi (1908-1997). A little research on Simak reveals a prolific and successful writer. Jacobi was a writer of short fiction for Weird Fiction among other pulp magazines. "The Street That Wasn't There" is a short story available at Gutenberg.org.

Jonathon Chambers is a recluse. He wrote a book long ago that disgraced him and basically ruined his career as a professor. His theory was that perception created reality and the world.

There have been many wars and plagues decimating the population of earth. There are few people left to perceive reality. As a result, reality is slipping away. "There were not sufficient minds in existence to retain the material world in its mundane form. Some other power from another dimension was fighting to supersede man's control and take his universe into its own plane!"

In some ways, this is an extension of religion that suggests that the universe was created for the benefit of men by a deity for whatever reason. If men are therefore mostly wiped away, what is there left to perceive, and if there is no perception, how does it continue to really exist? This is a very good question--one that I have asked myself, but on a more personal level. That is to say, if I cease to exist, then so too does the universe from my perception. It's my perception of reality that gives reality an existence. We cohabitate with one another. I'm sure anyone can say the same thing: once they are dead or cease to perceive, what exists at all? If a tree falls in the forest, but no one can hear it, does it make a sound? Take it another step forward: if a tree falls in the forest, but I cannot hear it, does it make a sound? The obvious answer is, yes, of course.

Simak-Jacobi mention another city of futuristic and fantastic proportion trying to supplant the old. But it is never truly explained: are people disappearing and populating the new city, or are they simply ceasing to exist and a new people taking over? Is it alien? Is it some deity replacing a species too violent to exist?

This short story, like most superior literature, begs great metaphysical questions, it does not give answers.