The Naked Sun

The Naked Sun was written by Isaac Asimov and published in 1956.  Like Caves of Steel, it's a "Lije Baley and R. Daneel Olivaw Novel."  The R is for Robot, of course, and Asimov crafts another masterpiece here, as the detective partners investigate a murder on the planet Solaria:  population 20,000 "spacers" (human aristocrats) and 200,000,000 robots (slave labor.)  As usual, sociology plays an important role, and Asimov describes the situation on Solaria like this:

     "Civilizations have always been pyramidal in structure.  As on climbs toward the apex of the social edifice, there is increased leisure and increasing opportunity to pursue happiness.  As one climbs, one finds also fewer and fewer people to enjoy more and more.  Invariably, there is a preponderance of the dispossessed.  And remember this, no matter how well off the bottom layers of the pyramid might be on an absolute scale, there are always dispossessed in comparison with the apex."
     "So there is always social friction in ordinary human societies.  The action of social revolution and the reaction of guarding against such revolution or combating it once it has begun are the causes of a great deal of the human misery with which history is permeated."
     "Now here on Solaria, for the first time, the apex of the pyramid stands alone.  In place of the dispossessed are the robots.  We have the first new society, the first really new one, the first great social invention since the farmers of Sumeria and Egypt invented cities."

Asimov is prophetic about the impact of communications technology (facebook, twitter, blogger, etc.) on humanity, as the "spacers" live in isolation; they don't like to see each other in the flesh, but prefer viewing each other via computer terminal:

     "In short, a Solarian takes pride in not meeting his neighbor.  At the same time, his estate is so well run by robots and so self-sufficient that there is no reason for him to have to meet his neighbor.  The desire not to do so led to the development of ever more perfect viewing equipment, and as his viewing equipment grew better there was less and less need ever to see one's neighbor.  It was a reinforcing cycle, a kind of feed-back.  Do you see?"

The Naked Sun has a heavy Brave New World vibe to it, but I like the chemistry between the characters very much; they are charming and, uh, likable, and it is with a natural writing style and some great ideas that Asimov demonstrates why he is sci-fi's great visionary.