My review of "21st Century Kids" by Shannon Vyff

[matt-browne-sfw]

Open your mind to the possibilities - A must read for people inspired by visionary thinking

Hyperdrives, nano-minting, accelerated brains with direct computer interfaces, conversations with dolphins, indefinite lifespan... It may all sound a little far-fetched, but consider the current acceleration of scientific knowledge. This acceleration inevitably leads to exponential growth in technological progress. Now project this 180 years into the future! Shannon Vyff does exactly that. In her novel '21st Century Kids' she pulls the reader straight into the fascinating world of the year 2188. When we get there, we will encounter highly advanced human beings - upgraded to a version 5.0 of the earlier model, so to speak. Does this sound too strange to you? Think twice. Already today, we live in a time of Web 2.0 and the 3.0 version will follow soon. People's lives are improved by products like pacemakers, artificial limps, and cochlear implants also known as bionic ears. So what happens if this trend continues? Not only continues, accelerates?

Ray Kurzweil in his highly acclaimed book 'The Singularity is Near' defines the technological singularity as a point in the future when technological advances begin to happen so rapidly that normal humans cannot keep pace. In the fifth of his six epochs of the universe's evolution he foresees the merger of human technology with human intelligence. This is what Shannon Vyff's book is all about. So will we all end up as version 5.0 humans? Not necessarily, but there is a way and the book's plot contains all the hints on how it could be achieved.

While Ray Kurzweil established a solid scientific foundation for the expected accelerating changes, the author of '21st Century Kids' brings this scenario to life with two vivid and memorable characters: a girl named Avianna and a boy named Avryn. Both children die in a tragic car accident and are rushed to a hospital where contemporary medicine soon reaches its limits. Normally two death certificates would be signed and the grieving parents would prepare the funeral of their two beloved children. Is there no other way? Well, actually there is. Avianna and Avryn's parents decide to put their children's bodies into cryonic suspension. Advanced vitrification techniques are applied to protect the bodies and the delicate brains.

Avianna is the first of the two to awake 180 years later. At first she can't see anything, but hears voices in her head. She is vastly surprised to have survived the terrible accident and it takes her a while to grasp the full significance of what is really happening. Her badly injured body has been repaired by nanorobots. Her fully intact brain - which had not suffered from oxygen deprivation - was being greatly enhanced with ultramodern computer technology. She realizes she can think so fast that the experience of an hour of events barely takes a minute. Talk about quality time! The Internet - now called the grid - can be connected to every brain directly. That way the cerebral cortex can access encyclopedic information or any kind of information in almost an instant. There is no need for a web browser, Wikipedia search fields, or archaic mouse clicks. Even speech-to-text interfaces are superfluous. Just a thought. That's all it takes. Too hard to imagine? Okay, in today's techno-babble language our future brain would run at something like a 100 terahertz, have its own IP address (IPv6 of course!) and a wireless 10-petabit connection. Say good-bye to slow cursor response and limited bandwidth.

Avianna learns about numerous changes that have taken place during her time in the cryonics chamber: molecular manufacturing is done by nano-minting techniques, aging was ended in the year 2101, humans can choose between biological and robotic forms, schools are the tallest buildings in the cities, status is gained by accumulating knowledge instead of physical beauty or market capitalization. When Avianna leaves the hospital she quickly masters how to decorate walls with her thoughts. She also boards flying cars to cross the city and even takes a cool mini-break to see the magnificent ice buildings of the North Pole. Too magical? Sit back and make sure your seat belt is securely fastened. Modern hyperdrives allow spaceships to travel the galaxy in a matter of months instead of millennia. In fact, seat belts are not really needed for the smooth ride. This may be a bit too miraculous and could leave the impression that things are always perfect and never go wrong. Well, this is about to change. Several extrasolar planets suitable for human colonization have already been reached by the new pioneers of the late 22nd century. Contact with one of the colonies has been lost. Was there a terribly tragedy? One of the lost colonists is Avalyse, Avianna sisters's great-great-granddaughter and Avianna boards a starship to join the search party. A mysterious world awaits her, full of beauty and charm, but also fraught with danger and challenges at every turn.

Shannon Vyff has crafted a gripping and powerful tale that portrays the transhumanist visions in vivid personal detail. Her storytelling is entertaining, insightful and thought-provoking. She captures the imagination of young readers and adults alike, while also deepening the knowledge about the true potential of technological progress. All of us need to be aware of the accelerating rate of paradigm shifts. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in the mid-term future of the human species.