Synopsis
The President gets to meet with a grooup of alien explorers in their ship that has come to earth. They talk about their discovery that earthlike planets all produce human-like races and go through the same historical cycles.
History
First publication: Astounding, May 1949
Review
This short story is just a conversation between an earthman and men from a different star. It doesn’t get into characterization or world building or such things. The idea is king here. But it’s a pretty interesting idea, kind of continuing on ideas that may have been influeced by Foundation.
Videos
We have the story in these editions:
The Collected Short Works of Poul Anderson Volume 1: Call Me Joe, hardcover, NESFA Press, 2009-03-11
