21st Century Kids [Paperback]

Shannon Vyff (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1886057001 | ISBN-13: 978-1886057005 | Publication Date: March 15, 2007

21st Century Kids is an adventure into the future of two children who are re-animated 200 years from today, in a society that has implemented many things as we see possible now.

Product Details

• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: Warren Publishing, Inc (March 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1886057001
• ISBN-13: 978-1886057005
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,313,035 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 21st Century Kids: An Innovative Adventure, April 2, 2007

By 

A Knowledgeable Cryonicist (Michigan) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: 21st Century Kids (Paperback)

Jimmy Adams has written a review of Shannon Vyff's
book entitled "21st Century Kids: An Innovative Adventure" which
is much better than anything that I can write about the book. I
am sharing it here for those interested in the book.

*******************************

21st Century Kids: An Innovative Adventure reviewed by Jimmy Adams

BEWARE! Your memory of reading this book could be
ERASED!

21st Century Kids is not a fairy-tale for children to
read. This book opens up a completely inventive world
of what life will be analogous to in the future. This
work should be compulsory reading for all
transhumanists, cryonicists and people into life
extension.

The author, Shannon Vyff, wrote about what could
possibly occur if suspended for approximately 200
years. Set in the year 2189, the real life
protagonists Avianna, Avryn and with the help of
Avalyse, tell the progress of their story by their
capacity to evolve into the new culture.
Reminiscent of other literary classics in the vein of
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells and A Connecticut
Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain, this book
is a societal exposition. In the form of a
chronological account from the future, Vyff describes
how trans-civilization developed. This is not an ideal
Utopia comparable to the novel by Sir Thomas More.
Pollution has damaged the world's ecological system
and the civilizations must live in nano-shield spheres
for protection, there is also a black market
sub-society as well as political factions vying for
power.

A comparative analysis of this adventure to the
classics:

The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells, is known to many as a
children's classic, but was really about the social
political views in the 19th-century. By traveling
forward in time, Wells was able to express his views
of the world around him during a chaotic period. Vyff
similarly tells about a possibly accurate portrayal of
the future in an extraordinary story of her children
traveling by cryonic suspension into the tranhumanial
future.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark
Twain created the sub-genre of science fiction when
his character, Hank Morgan, transports back into time.
This was the first true book of time travel back in
time rather then forward in time as The Time Machine.
Similarly, Vyff creates a sub-genre for transhumanial
literature with 21st Century Kids. Mark Twain was
commenting on the existing society of the 19th
-century in a satire. Vyff has created a paradigm
shift for the 21st-century by traveling forward in
time by using cryonics as the transport medium.

This work is much superior to Robert A. Heinlein's To
Sail beyond the Sunset or The First Immortal by James
L. Halperin. This novel is devoid of all the
superfluous sex and violence to move a story, yet at
the same time is a page-turner all ages find hard to
put down.

The first chapter begins with a bang! No time to
explain the life style of the principal characters, an
accident happens very quickly.

A bright light just flashed near my window. I'll look
out to see what it is. Was that a flying saucer? No,
it is just the full moon behind the clouds.I think.

The initial narrative point of view is from Avianna, a
twelve-year-old girl, re-animated into the new world.
She gets through the event and finds the information
that leads her to her ambition. To find her clone;
akin to The Descent of Inanna, (Ishtar), Avianna has a
feminine journey structure. She finds that the world
is a beautiful place but she feels that she cannot
grow because she does not know what happen to her
clone. Avianna has learned about a spaceship that will
travel to search for the lost colonists, but she would
have to be a stowaway...
The first thing Avianna encounters in this new world
after her awakening are transhuman themes: A.I.;
enhanced ageless humans and animals; telepathic, with
different perceptions of time, watch-recorders,
robots, nanotechnology; uploading and downloading
sequences, such as schoolwork or even entities into
supplementary forms of life. Oh, yes there are also
flying cars!

The School of Langeles is where the children
collectively reside, using nano-minting to create
whatever they want. They can change their rooms just
by thinking of a new design and then the nanobots
construct the environment to whatever they desire.
However, her genetic copy is missing in deep space.
Avianna has new dolphin acquaintances; will she leave
them for outer space?

There is an eerie sound resembling a low hum near the
door.but I need to finish this review.

The second narrative point of view is from Avryn, a
ten-year-old boy who was also cryo-vitrified. He
decides to make a sacrifice similar to The Epic of
Gilgamesh, Avryn takes a masculine journey structure.
When he was re-animated, his sister has vanished into
deep space. Avryn needs to take a robot form for the
expedition in space. can he locate her?

I don't believe what I'm seeing! A gray being with
large black eyes, just stepped out of the shadows! Its
coming toward me!

I woke up. What was I doing? I look at the bookshelves
and I notice that there is a book missing, a gap
between two other books. I can't remember which book
was there.

I notice the computer is on the internet. It is the
book club forum. 21st Century Kids. Wow, what an
interesting soundingstory! I'll have to buy that book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Open your mind to the possibilities - A must read for people inspired by visionary thinking, November 2, 2007

By 

Matthias Brust-Braun - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 21st Century Kids (Paperback)

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.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't put it down, May 27, 2007

By 

Brian Wowk - See all my reviews

This review is from: 21st Century Kids (Paperback)

This is a really good story. Though billed as a kids book, it shows real depth of thought about many future technology issues, including artificial intelligence, human augmentation, cryonics, and personal identity. While much has been written about these topics by others, never before have all these ideas been put together in such an engaging and entertaining form.