Each story was set in the far off future. "Repent, Harlequin!" was set sometime past the year of 2389. Come to Venus Melancholy did not mention a specific date, but it is in a time where humans have the ability to travel and live on Venus, and create cyborgs out of people. In each case, humans have advanced in knowledge of technology in the future, but each civilization has their downfalls.
In the Harlequin story, civilization had developed so rapidly and depended so much on the idea of "time" and schedules, that humanity began to be ruled by time itself. Everything that a person did in their lives, whether it be job interviews or simply meeting a friend, began to rely on exact timing. Being late was considered to be very dangerous to civilization- you threatened to delay the schedule. In this world, the TickTokMan was created to rule "time." Not everyone believed in this world of schedules and punishable lateness, and that's where the Harlequin stepped in.
In Come to Venus Melancholy, civilization has branched out into other planets- specifically Venus. Cyborgs are a thing of the present (though not exactly how I pictured cyborgs, the ones in this world are combined more with houses rather than walking humanoids.) From what the cyborg tells us, we can gather that humanity was lost to another war, despite all the technological advancements. Also, the cyborg (supposedly the peak of technology) has plenty of defects. Cyborgs are known to go completely insane!
Both authors seem to warn readers about the technology of the future. While it appears that humanity may advance and do all sorts of wonderful things like live on new planets or become an organized society, these very things can cause humanity's destruction.
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