Author| Chen Lishan Editor-in-chief | Yu Baicheng Typesetting | Wang Jilongyan
Metaverse, or Mertaverse, comes from the science fiction novel "Avalanche" published in 1992 by the famous American fantasy writer Neil Stephenson. The story background of the book is set in the real world controlled by enterprises in the early 21st century, and the virtual space parallel to the real world. A computer virus called Avalanche spreads in both the Internet and the real world. The protagonist Hiro, a natural hacker , Japanese samurai and courier delivering pizza for the mafia set out to subdue the virus.
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1. Science fiction and movies have become important sources of modern capitalism
Unlike novels of other themes, science fiction is not based on traditional trends of thought, but is a theme oriented to lead human beings into an unknown future world. Science fiction has the characteristics of escaping reality, foreseeing the future and opening imagination. The imagination of intelligent machines, cosmic fantasy, and extreme society in science fiction has inspired the imagination of human exploration and creation, and a large number of science fiction have become reality today.
Science fiction has and is providing inspiration for new forms of human-computer interaction, and the superwatch with a visual screen, built-in camera, and calling function in the 1946 classic anime "Supreme Detective" gave birth to the smart watch. The "communication device" used in the 1966 Star Trek episodes became the inspiration for Martin Cooper to create the world's first portable telephone. KITT, a high-tech car that supports driverless driving in the 1981 TV series "Knight Rider", became the predecessor of today's driverless cars.
In addition, the essence of science fiction is thinking about the end of human beings, including the destruction of the earth, natural disasters, machine rule, etc. Therefore, with the mission of changing the future, science fiction writers urge human beings to carry out self-salvation, seek changes in beliefs and morals, and create new ways of thinking and living. This kind of science fiction that explores the ultimate meaning of human beings has also become an eternal topic, which will inevitably affect the world outlook of every generation.
"Extreme, alien capitalism in which stock prices are driven less by earnings than by science fiction fantasies".
——"Musk is building a science fiction world, and we will all inevitably fall into this trap" Jill Lepore
Philosopher Jill Lepore argues that tech billionaires are building a new kind of capitalism—the Muskian. Relying on technology to solve the world's most difficult problems as the goal, "Musks" are inspired by science fiction and based on the belief that technology and engineering can solve all political, social and economic problems.
The notion that science fiction and film can be an important driving force in relation to modern capitalism smacks of magical reality. In response to this point of view, Professor Zhu JiamingThe Musk Phenomenon and Science Fiction LiteratureIn his keynote speech, he analyzed the birth date and growth environment of the founders of Internet giants, as well as the emergence and development of science fiction in the same period, and concluded:
The golden age of science fiction, sci-fi TV and movies that started after World War II has a direct historical overlap with the real IT revolution, Internet revolution, and space development, with strong correlation and deep interaction.
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2. "Musks" under the quantum revolution
What anxieties about humanity's future make science fiction a guide to self-redemption today? To answer this question, the quantum revolution may be a key part of it.
Before the quantum revolution, the classical physics system founded by Galileo (1564-1642) and Newton (1642-1727) since the 17th century and reached its peak at the end of the 19th century dominated the world. The three pillars of classical physics, classical mechanics, classical electrodynamics, classical thermodynamics and statistical mechanics, construct a rigorous and perfect theory.
On the occasion of the New Year in 1900, the famous physicist Lord Kelvin said in his farewell speech to the old century: "The building of physics has been completed in the 19th century, and the task of physicists in the future is to decorate and perfect this building."
But two experimental results contrary to classical physics began to shake the theoretical basis on which human beings rely to explain and understand the world-the negative result of the ether drift experiment, and the ultraviolet disaster caused by black body radiation. These two experiments had impact on the principle of relativity of classical physics and the theory of equipartition of energy respectively. In less than a year, the theory of relativity and quantum theory were born, which brought a revolutionary storm that shocked the whole world. Among them, classical mechanics can be regarded as an approximate expression of the theory of relativity in a low-speed environment, but quantum theory starts from the microscopic world, completely overturning the foundation of classical mechanics.
Physics is not only a theory for humans to explain the world, but also affects the way humans think and change the world, and even forms a set of philosophy and religion. Under the rules of classical physics, the world changes gradually, the world is simple causality, and the world is deterministic. The final outcome of this universe has been determined since its birth. Human beings are only limited by the ability to calculate. As long as conditions permit, human beings can predict all futures.
But quantum mechanics describes an uncertain world. It emphasizes that the world is not continuous, the future can only be described by probabilities, time does not flow from the past to the future, and there is more than one history or universe. Such a theory undoubtedly denies the dominant position of human beings, and when facing the ultimate human problems such as the unknown and the future, powerlessness and anxiety arise spontaneously.
"When God closes this door, he will open another door for you." On the one hand, the quantum revolution desperately declares that the future cannot be predicted, and on the other hand, it gives human beings the hope of getting closer to the truth through quantum computing.
Traditional computers are gradually approaching their limits, Moore's Law is gradually becoming invalid, and massive data is difficult to achieve calculations. The new space-time concept and complex theory are approaching the future of traditional computers.
The emergence of quantum computing is expected to give computers a new kind of computing power, which is specially used to test the results predicted by quantum theory. In the future, quantum computing will be applied to complex large-scale data processing and computing problems, as well as network security services based on quantum encryption.
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3. Metaverse—Science Fiction Comes into Reality
Metaverse is an unprecedented fusion of reality and virtuality, and it is also the product of science fiction once again shining into reality. In the sci-fi movie Number One Player, wearing VR equipment, people can change from a loser struggling on the margins of society in reality to a superhero in the virtual world. This scene of deep integration of virtual and reality may become a reality in the near future.
Metaverse, this fiery concept is being given different definitions, and different companies and giants are building this metaworld with their own ideas. On the one hand, virtual reality has been introduced into reality. Major companies such as Meta (formerly Facebook), Nvidia, and Tencent have been investing in augmented reality technologies such as AR and VR. The full-scene, immersive, and interactive Internet experience will be promoted. to another peak.
On the other hand, reality has also been introduced into the virtual world, and Decentraland has created a parallel world where various buildings, cultures and economic activities in the real world are being moved into. Sandbox launches a simulated game space, and game equipment is linked to real money, and players can even rely on games to support their families.
In this process, we can also see the impact of the quantum revolution. When faced with an uncertain real world, when human beings cannot grasp the direction of the universe and the future, re-establishing a virtual world may be an excellent way for human beings to regain the initiative Way.
In the metaverse system, we can see a new interpretation of code is the law, a perfect world that relies on calculation and data to establish order. Such a concept is forming a brand-new business concept and a new capitalist development mode under the operation of a very sci-fi color.
