This is Future Tense Fiction, a podcast featuring stories about how technology could change tomorrow.

I'm Maddie Stone.

Andrew Silverman did what many people did at the beginning of the pandemic.

He adopted a dog.

But the electronic device he bought to keep tabs on his puppy left him wondering.

In a world of increasingly sophisticated pet care technology, do our furry companions actually

need us to be happy?

At the end of the day, we still say we quote unquote own dogs.

We confine them to crates, to train them, we walk them around on leashes.

So depending on your perspective, I think dogs are totally entitled to higher levels of freedom, to higher levels of happiness.

On today's episode, we're bringing you a reading of Andrew Silverman's Virgin.

Then, Andrew and Canine Behavioral Scientist Clive Wynn join us to talk about how tech is changing our relationships with our pets,

and maybe even

making us obsolete. That's all coming up on Future Tense Fiction. Stay with us.

This is Future Tense Fiction. I'm Maddie Stone. I'm a freelance journalist and the editor of the Science of Fiction, a newsletter about how science and pop culture intersect.

Every month, Slate's Future Tense partnership with New America and Arizona State University's Center for Science and the Imagination publishes a short story that explores how science and technology will shape our future.

Now, we're bringing some of those stories to you in a podcast that includes a conversation

with the author or an expert in a related field.

Today's story is Furgeon by Andrew Silverman.

Andrew is a pediatric neurologist who somehow finds the time to write fiction.

In this case, he's writing about Furgeon, a two-foot-tall, screen-covered cube that can communicate with humans and dogs,

and can also generate a perfect facial replica of Tucker, the story's canine protagonist.

...