This article is reproduced from Quantum School
Some concepts, like some people, create huge waves when they appear.
Some people, whether you love them or hate them, you have to admit that they have a natural charm that seduces people.
The same is true for some concepts, such as "Metaverse", these three words naturally have the power to directly hit people's hearts. If there is nothing, it forms a resonance with the frequency Hz of the era, setting off a monstrous amplitude.
New concepts are born every day in this era: Generation Z, the second dimension, the XR world, NFT...
However, a concept like "Metaverse" that directly has the ability to break circles, concentrate contradictions, and build consensus is extremely rare.
It is born with different phases and has its own halo, which attracts thousands of attention in the world as soon as it appears.
So, what exactly is the metaverse? what will it bring
Is it the "Exodus" of the 21st century?
Or the 2021 Hitchhiker's Guide to the Future?
Or is it just a slogan like "strike the local tyrants and divide the land"?
There are 1,000 Hamlets in the eyes of 1,000 people, and there are 100 different Metaverses in the eyes of 100 entrepreneurs. It is a kind of uncertainty, but it meets the expectations of many people for the future.
To understand the phenomenon-level spread of the "Metaverse", one needs to understand the history of human civilization.
Because it is a powerful "meta-narrative".
Metaverse, these three words are like a bait, it connects to the imaginary cortex of your right brain, and outlines the following image:
Essentially, these three words want to tell you a story, a story about to happen, a great fictional story. And it doesn't say anything by itself, all the plots are made up by yourself, and the content of the brainstorming is still overwhelming in your brain.
It's a strange, deep galaxy, and it's as if you've returned to your spiritual home.
In A Brief History of Mankind: From Animals to God, Yuval Noah Harari states:
The reason why human beings become masters of the earth is that human beings can create and believe in "fictional stories".
What is the human ability to "tell stories"?
"If a gorilla says to another gorilla, you give me this banana, and when you die, you will go to heaven, where there are endless bananas."
Take religion as an example, gorillas don't believe such stories, only humans have this kind of imagination, they believe such stories, and because of this, cathedrals are built, mosques are built, and millions of people worship together Some God or Allah. "
The ability to "tell stories" and "believe stories" is the prerequisite for primitive tribes to break through the upper limit of 150 people and launch large-scale collaboration. Human beings rely on the ability to "tell stories" and also create countries, companies and currencies.
"Look, there is such a piece of green paper with a human head printed on it, and then he tells you that this piece of paper is worth ten bananas. If you believe him, I believe him, and everyone believes in him, this piece of paper is real. can buy ten bananas."
None of this exists objectively, but it demonstrates the human capacity for fiction.
The metaverse is telling a story to human beings.
A story of all the goodness and progress that has come with it since the industrial age.
Moreover, this story is huge enough, fictitious enough, beautiful enough, and close enough.
Only by being close to your own vocabulary can you connect people's imagination.
In 209 BC, the word had no seditious power;
In AD 30, the word has no empathy;
In 1848, the word had no demagogy;
In 1966, the word had no appeal;
In 1985, the word had no imagination either;
…………
Only in 2021, the three words "Metaverse" can catch you immediately.
Because when you hear these words, you will naturally think of BAND (Blockchain, Game, Network, Display)—the four technological pillars for building the metaverse.
Even if you are not a technology-sensitive person, you can still perceive the upcoming marginal changes in blockchain, games, network computing power, and VR display.
The following technologies are naturally related to the Metaverse, more or less, you have intersected with them.
The Metaverse relies on network communication technology. With the development of 5G, the perceived real-time experience in the virtual space of the Metaverse will also be greatly improved.
Including VR, AR, MR, XR, etc., can provide a bridge between the real world and the virtual world, seamlessly connecting reality and virtuality.
At present, the game is closest to the concept of metaverse, although it is relatively rudimentary. Game technology includes game engine, game code, and multimedia resources.
Based on the analysis of big data and the algorithm based on machine learning, the simulation of the world is carried out, and the abstract summary will become more and more intelligent. Based on the improvement of computing power, AI intelligent technology will also be deeply applied in the Metaverse.
The Metaverse is a digital universe that requires a complete closed-loop financial system and virtual currency. Behind the virtual currency is the decentralized blockchain technology.
The above technologies have penetrated into your life bit by bit.
And the metaverse is the core connection of these technologies, so you can more or less feel the existence of the "metaverse".
With such a close vocabulary, it also has a sci-fi style.
It is based on reality, but also a little out of reach.
Not only nourish the soul, but also take care of business interests.
It is both self-enclosed and independent.
This is the spiritual pillar that human beings need most, so as soon as it appeared, it swept across all fields and walks of life, as a matter of course.
Humans have created so many words, why is the "Metaverse" the most attractive?
There are many languages that are close to the self. Why does the "Metaverse" hit people's hearts the most?
There are also many storytelling frameworks. Why is the "Metaverse" the most ambitious?
Because these three characters are a kind of "meta-narrative".
What is a "meta-narrative"?
It is a story of "eternal truth" and "human salvation", a form of imagining the course of the future with a beginning and an end. Its motivation stems from some kind of hope or fear about the prospect of human historical development, and it always involves the final outcome of the development of things, with prophecy, convergence, purpose, finality and unity.
For example, Einstein's "Grand Unified Theory" is the "meta-narrative" of physics.
Descartes' search for "universal algebraic method" is the "meta-narrative" of the mathematics circle.
Leibniz developed "universal language", which is the "metanarrative" of linguistics.
The "communism" proposed by Marx is the "meta-narrative" of human society.
Metaverse has the same logic as other "meta-narrative" concepts. It also pursues a story of "human liberation" and hopes to build a "brave new world", which has the above five characteristics of "meta-narrative":
A "meta-narrative" recognized by more people will be the cornerstone of human progress, guiding the most people towards an ideal goal.
If we still cannot understand the "meta-narrative" of the metaverse, we can understand a recent "meta-narrative" of human beings: globalization.
Metanarrative Makers: American Scholars.
The origin of the concept of meta-narrative: 1960s to 1980s.
Meta-narrative slogan: The whole world becomes a global village and becomes a better place.
The subjective purpose of meta-narrative: to construct a kind of "global hegemony in the post-colonial era".
The objective goal of meta-narrative: to bring a better life to the vast majority of people.
The real peak of globalization: the early 21st century.
It took nearly 50 years for the “metanarrative” of globalization to reach its peak. Until today, this "meta-narrative" novel craze has cooled down.
With the technical conditions brought about by the industrial age, the meta-narrative of "globalization" provides a beautiful imagination. Driven by this narrative, achieve the following goals one by one:
❶ Supply chain globalization
❷Globalization of wealth
❸Military Globalization
❹Cultural globalization (universal values)
❺Information globalization (Internet technical support)
The narrative of "globalization" has finally achieved part of its intended purpose: the United States has long been the apex of the global order, lazily harvesting more wealth from around the world.
At the same time, it has also objectively helped many countries and promoted the development of the entire world. China is the biggest beneficiary in the process of globalization. From a backward country at the beginning of the reform, it has become the world's second economy in one fell swoop, with 1.4 billion The population is generally moving towards a moderately developed country.
This is the power of meta-narrative, telling a fictional story and providing a beautiful vision. The original thorny jungle law can be rewritten into a fairy tale.
Why does the Metaverse impress people?
In other words, why when the concept of "Metaverse" came out, the whole world was crazy about it, big companies flocked to it, small companies also began to look for opportunities to enter the market, and more Internet users also looked forward to it?
We can analyze it from several aspects.
As the "absolute main force" of the "meta-narrative" in the past, globalization has become an old man after several twists and turns.
We once expected the earth to be "flat", but now we are going against it.
The rise of racism and populism, the reappearance of trade barriers, coupled with the raging epidemic,
The world inevitably enters a relatively closed state.
The era of globalization is gradually fading away, and the trend of "anti-globalization" is surging.
Therefore, people urgently need a new "meta-narrative" to make up for the lack (material and spiritual) caused by the end of globalization.
At this time, the metaverse appeared, which can not only meet the material development of human beings (various technological products), but also meet the spiritual needs of human beings (globalization of the virtual world).
From WEB1.0 to WEB2.0, and then to the mobile Internet.
As the most powerful carrying tool of "globalization", the Internet has also encountered a bottleneck after decades of dividends.
The main bottleneck of the current Internet industry is the involutional platform form.
The internet has come to an end and a new breakthrough is needed.
To use a particularly old and ugly saying: the Internet has lost its dreams.
The Metaverse is just able to help the Internet break out of its shackles and get out of involution.
From the physical world to the Internet, they basically still obey the Pauli Exclusion Principle, because our human body is composed of fermions such as quarks and electrons, occupying a space, we cannot allow a second person to occupy it.
The metaverse may be more inclined to quantum theory, which can realize the fission of multiple personalities of human beings, and freely shuttle in multiverses or parallel worlds, which may be more suitable for the quantum state of the human brain.
The concept of the metaverse was mentioned as early as in "Avalanche", but at that time it did not cause a wave of heated discussions like it is now.
One of these is important: technology has not kept pace with imagination.
Over the past two decades, many seemingly impossible technologies are gradually breaking through.
5G provides the communication foundation for the Metaverse;
Cloud computing provides the computing power foundation for the Metaverse;
Brain-computer interface, VR/AR, etc. provide a real sense of immersion for the Metaverse;
Artificial intelligence provides content generation logic for the Metaverse;
The digital twin provides the world blueprint for the Metaverse;
The blockchain provides an authentication/trust mechanism for the Metaverse;
…
These technological innovations have gradually converged and undergone qualitative changes, making it possible to realize the once unreachable "Metaverse".
In the end, a system is formed and combined into a world.
The Metaverse depicts how life will be lived in the future
We've seen what this world looks like in Ready Player One, Runaway Player, and Westworld sci-fi imaginings.
Science fiction defines the world. As long as you can think of it, technology can do it.
The explosive growth of technology makes science fiction and technology only a stone's throw away.
In the new world, the real world and the virtual world, the physical world and the imaginary world are coupled together.
The concept of "metaverse" itself is full of science fiction. It was born in the science fiction novel "Avalanche", and often appears in various science fiction works, becoming a unique science fiction phenomenon. "Real Names", "The Matrix", and "Neuromancer" all have shadows of the Metaverse.
When the sci-fi era came, the metaverse was naturally favored.
The emergence of the Internet has brought about tremendous changes in the way of life of human beings.
People began to shuttle between the physical world and the virtual world.
If the human body changes from real Fermi matter to Bose data information, our moving speed is the speed of light, and the space distance on the earth cannot prevent us from face-to-face communication at all.
Through data simulation and design, Metaverse inherits the globalization of the Internet era. At the same time, as a more advanced virtual world - editable and open, twin simulation, highly immersive social interaction, creative play, etc., it is naturally inevitable for the aborigines in the virtual world. direction of evolution.
Therefore, the emergence of the Metaverse in 2021, to some extent, is like the emergence of Christianity around AD 30. In 1792, a French thinker wrote "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity", and in 1848, Marx wrote the declaration in his heart, and The "globalization" slogan that emerged in the 1960s.
It has the potential of "meta-narrative", but whether it can truly create a new human civilization is worth looking forward to and observing.
All "meta-narratives" want to establish a new order, and at the same time inevitably touch the old order.
All "meta-narratives" want to build a new world, so it will inevitably hurt the old world.
Moreover, it has a natural and powerful emotional appeal, which will inevitably provoke the backlash of the old system.
This kind of backlash is reasonable, because in many cases, although the "meta-narrative" will describe a beautiful world, the heaven in some "meta-narratives" eventually turns into hell.
For example, the meta-narrative of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is "There are fields to be cultivated together, food to be eaten together, clothes to be worn together, money to be used together, everywhere is uneven, and no one is not full and warm." But in the end, most of the kings became demons.
The concept of the Metaverse is attractive enough to attract a lot of controversy.
Many people angrily denounced Metaverse as a "scam", shouting that this is another "game" of capital.
Some people think that the Metaverse is just a new prank to break Leek Capital.
Some see this as nothing more than a comeback of the "VR concept."
In addition, how to properly embed the blockchain, the certification and trust mechanism of the metaverse, into the metaverse, achieve the result of decentralization with a decentralized mechanism, break the monopoly and realize the real global interaction is also a problem. big problem.
At the same time, how to resolve the profound tension between the metaverse and modern countries, and how to handle the relationship between centralized organizations and decentralized organizations, real currency and virtual currency, etc., are also important factors that affect the implementation of the metaverse.
Judging from the current technological development, the Metaverse is just a concept.
In the next five years, the Metaverse will enter the embryonic exploration period.
In the next 20 years, the Metaverse may actually be created.
Therefore, the establishment will definitely hate it and denounce the scam.
But innovators and capital dismissed it, and the leverage was full.
Is it a paradise in the future, or a casino today?
Everyone has their own answer, but the starting point is different.
But here's one thing to remember: the pessimists may be right, but the optimists always win.
Moreover, meta-narratives are not easy to make mistakes. In 1993, Clinton announced the "Information Superhighway" plan, which also belongs to the "meta-narrative" of the United States, which brought ten years of prosperity to the United States.
If the "Metaverse" is likely to be the meta-narrative of the future, it is also a sexy business story with trillions of fortunes regardless of ideals, so how should we optimize the choice?
Dispute first, or get in the car first?
It may depend on the price/performance ratio.
Humanity needs a new concept to drive itself, a new story to advance civilization.
The "meta-narratives" of the past, no matter how great the meta-narratives are, can only bring about the evolution of civilization.
But the "metaverse" is different, what it brings is the leap of civilization.
Under the same blue sky, they can be divided into four species from the history of human civilization (time): 
Maintaining the original state of hunting and gathering, some Brazilian indigenous African chiefs are still in the primitive state of human beings.
Entering the modern civilized world, sociality > animality, religious sense > five senses, with Descartes' "rationality" as the cornerstone of thought, and Rousseau's "social contract theory" as the cornerstone of theory, no longer trust the law of the jungle, but believe in the contract Spirit.
In the information age established by Shannon's information entropy and modern mathematical theory, half is in the traditional physical world, and half is in the virtual information world. A large portion of humanity is half-human.
Transitioning from animality to spirituality, from entity to virtuality, from bounded to infinite, from flesh to consciousness, is a comprehensive digital transformation process, which is digital human.
Digital people, that may be a new species of human 4.0, they will appear in the world of "Metaverse".
Your physical body is your only weakness, and the "Metaverse" is your everything.
This is an unprecedented variation and an unprecedented "meta-narrative".
On a certain day in 2041, when a digital person stood in the museum of the metaverse to observe human civilization:
The ancient Homo sapiens left from East Africa smiled and imagined the sunset home in the distance. The fisherman on the isolated island tried his best to prop up the resurrected colossus. …
It all comes from: the human ability to construct stories.
And the most powerful novelist is the creator of "meta-narrative".
The greatest human beings always like to build "meta-narratives".
Most meta-narratives, however, end up with no ending.
Einstein tried to build a "grand unified theory", but he was almost terminated by quantum mechanics.
Descartes looked for a "universal algebraic method", but Gödel shattered his dream.
Leibniz wanted to develop a "universal language", so far it is still nowhere in sight.
It is not easy to achieve the ultimate goal of Marx's great manifesto.
The final verdict of logocentrism comes down to "Arrow's Impossibility Theorem".
…………
Even if some "meta-narratives" set sail smoothly, they will move forward along the logical line of construction.
But in the end, wherever he went, did he reach the set "end point"?
The "meta-narrative" of globalization was executed very smoothly, but what happened?
Populism is rampant in the world, and eventually it goes in the opposite direction of globalization.
If the "metaverse" becomes a "metanarrative", it will bring about the mutation of human species and the leap of civilization.
It combines the beauty of Zhuang Zhou's dream of butterflies and the magic of the magic age, which may be the next 100 years of human narrative.
However, perhaps the beautiful narrative about the metaverse will go to its opposite.
Today, we have constructed a heaven and finally ushered in a hell.
At the end of the metaverse, can "human beings" still be found?
Source: Quantum School (Hexadecimal)
Disclaimer: Cointelegraph Chinese is a blockchain news information platform, and the information provided only represents the author's personal opinion, which has nothing to do with the position of the Cointelegraph Chinese platform, and does not constitute any investment and financial advice. Readers are requested to establish correct currency concepts and investment concepts, and earnestly raise risk awareness.
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