The Need and Feasibility of the UN to Lead the Human Community in Creating a Digital Planet(015)
— An Open Letter to UN Secretary-General Guterres and Global Sages
5.2.1 The Essence of the Metaverse
The essence of the Metaverse has rarely been explored deeply by many people. Today, we cannot go into detail, but we can provide a distilled summary of our core understanding for everyone’s reference. There are three main points.
Firstly, the Metaverse is independent and does not rely on the Realverse.
For the sake of convenience, we define the virtual world or the digital world as the “Metaverse”. Correspondingly, we define the physical world or the real world as the “Realverse”.
Most people currently believe that the Metaverse depends on the Realverse, as a mapping or extension of the Realverse. For example, Wikipedia defines it as “a collective virtual shared space created by the fusion of the virtual enhanced physical reality and the physically persistent virtual space”. Baidu’s definition is “a virtual world linked and created by technological means, which maps and interacts with the real world, and possesses a new type of social system and a digital living space.” Both views are similar, suggesting that the Metaverse is merely a persistent virtual space that depends on the Realverse and maps to it. We can summarize this as a centralized Metaverse view.
However, our view is that the Metaverse is an independent universe that exists parallel to the Realverse. It is neither attached nor dependent on the Realverse, but instead coexists with it as a parallel universe. This is a decentralized Metaverse view.
Second， There is a clear division of labor between the metaverse and the Realverse.
The metaverse and the Realverse are parallel universes that coexist with each other. Mobile phones, computers, smart wearables, or brain-computer interface devices are like wormholes that allow humans to freely switch between the two parallel universes. For human society, the emergence and existence of these two universes are to adapt to the upcoming social division of labor. The division of labor will be described in more detail later, but here is a brief summary:
The metaverse will always be dominated by humans, with a division of labor responsible for the production of virtual goods, mainly to meet the growing spiritual needs of humans.
The Realverse will gradually transition from being human-dominated to AI-dominated, with a division of labor responsible for the production of material goods, mainly to meet the growing material needs of humans.
This is the division of labor between humans and machines in the era of symbiosis. This kind of division of labor is also known as social division of labor, civilizational division of labor, or universal division of labor. We need to realize that the metaverse is not something that emerged out of thin air, but rather an inevitable product of the development of human social science, technology, and cognitive thinking to a certain degree. Its birth has an important essential mission, which is to complete the above-mentioned division of labor between humans and machines and universal division of labor. And the core technological progress of this mission is AI. Therefore, this is not only the fundamental value and significance of AI appearing in our era, but also an inevitable choice for human civilization to develop to a new stage. And to accomplish this mission, humans must migrate from the Realverse to the metaverse, which will be a cross-universe migration. Unfortunately, until now, very few people in the world have recognized the nature of the division of labor and migration in the metaverse.
Fig. 48: A summary of the main conceptual differences between the centralized Metaverse model represented by Meta (Facebook) and the decentralized Metaverse model represented by Famland (HuaMulan).
The centralized Metaverse view regards the Metaverse as a mapping or extension of the Realverse, or a digitized and virtualized form of the Realverse. The construction of the Metaverse is top-down, like a network game, and NFTs on the market today are pre-set by project parties. Its economic structure remains capitalist, still relying on the economy and finance of the Realverse. The virtual land in it is like real-world property and belongs to commodity land. The value of the Metaverse is mainly held by a few people, such as shareholders, management teams, or project teams.
In contrast, the decentralized Metaverse view regards the Metaverse as completely independent and a parallel universe to the Realverse. The construction of the Metaverse is bottom-up, with all functions and values determined by users. Its economic structure is no longer capitalist, but humanistic, putting people first. The virtual land in it belongs to each user’s private domain, and their private sovereignty cannot be deprived by anyone. The value of the Metaverse is shared by all users according to the principles of fairness, justice, and transparency. It can be said that building from the bottom-up establishes the substance of the value of the Metaverse, and the basic spirit of the value of the Metaverse is reflected in its fairness and value sharing properties.
Since the Metaverse is an independent and parallel universe, it means that the Metaverse has its own rules, regulations, and order, including financial rules, regulations, and order. For such an important essence of the Metaverse, the vast majority of people are not aware of it, or have not yet recognized it.
Third， The Metaverse is the home of human spirit and soul.
When humans migrate from the Realverse to the Metaverse, it is no longer their physical bodies that are migrating, but their spirit and soul. To avoid any misunderstanding, we have a specific definition for the “spirit” and “soul” of individuals.
The term “spirit” refers to the external expression of a person’s inner world, including all thoughts, consciousness, culture, art, relevant information, content, and data that can be manifested.
The term “soul” refers to a person’s inner world essence, or consciousness, or true self.
Simply put, current artificial intelligence can carry a person’s spirit but not their soul. If we upload the information, content, and data related to a person’s spirit to blockchain AI, the AI can imitate the person’s spiritual habits and thinking patterns, and communicate with other people or AI. We can say that this person’s spirit will not perish. Now, with the help of the human-machine interface developed by Musk, Chatgpt can basically achieve this step. Finally, when technology develops further, if a person’s essence, consciousness, or true self can also migrate to the blockchain or AI at will, it means that human souls will also be immortal. This means that humans have entered an era of true immortality.
According to the above definition, the Metaverse is the home of human spirit and soul. In the Metaverse, not only is the spirit and soul of humans unique, but it can also live forever. When this day comes, humans in the Realverse can have countless avatars. They can have avatars not only on Earth but also on Mars and the Moon. And these avatars can be added, changed, or destroyed. Therefore, in the future, if we want to know whether the person in front of us is an avatar or their true self, we need to go to the Metaverse to verify it. The Metaverse is more “real” than the Realverse. This is not difficult to understand, just like people playing online games nowadays. There is only one true self, but they can have an avatar in every game. To determine the true identity of the avatar, we can only verify the true self.
For humans, in the future, the Metaverse will be more real than the Realverse. At least for now, people find it difficult to accept and consider it only as a product of science fiction. However, as long as we observe and think seriously about the trend of progress and technological development, it is entirely possible to establish such a cognitive view. With the understanding of the Metaverse mentioned above, we can further understand the digital Earth.
(to be continued)
The English translation is mainly done by AI and is inevitably not accurate enough. Please refer to the original Chinese text below for a more accurate understanding.
联合国引领人类社会打造数字地球的必要性和可行性（015）
— — 致联合国秘书长古特雷斯及全球贤达的公开信
5.2.1 元宇宙的实质
元宇宙的实质内涵，还很少有人用心去探究。今天，我们也不可能展开来阐述，只能将我们的核心认知做个提炼，供大家参考。主要有三点。
第一点，元宇宙是独立的，并不依赖于实宇宙。
为了表述的方便，在把虚拟世界、或者说数字世界定义为“元宇宙”的同时。相对应的，我们也把现实世界、或者说物质世界定义为“实宇宙”。
现在人们大多认为元宇宙依赖于实宇宙，是实宇宙的映射和延伸。例如，维基百科是这样定义的：“通过虚拟增强的物理现实和物理上持久的虚拟空间的融合而创建的集体虚拟共享空间”。百度百科的定义：“利用科技手段进行链接与创造的，与现实世界映射与交互的虚拟世界，具备新型社会体系的数字生活空间。”这两种观点意思都差不多，认为元宇宙只是依赖于现实世界的一个持久性虚拟空间，是现实世界在虚拟世界中的映射。我们可以归结为中心化元宇宙观。
而我们的观点，元宇宙是平行于实宇宙的独立宇宙。它既不依附、也不依赖于实宇宙，而是与实宇宙并存的平行宇宙。这是一种去中心化元宇宙观。
图48概括了以Meta（脸书）为代表的中心化元宇宙模式，与以Famland（花木兰）为代表去中心化元宇宙模式，在观念上的主要区别。
中心化元宇宙观，认为元宇宙是实宇宙的映射或延伸，或者是实宇宙的数字化、虚拟化形态。元宇宙的打造是自上而下的，就像网络游戏，以及现在市场上的NFT一样，是由项目方事先预设好的。其经济结构依然是资本主义模式，依然依赖于实宇宙的经济和金融。里面的虚拟土地与现实世界一样，属于商品土地。元宇宙的价值主要由少数人占有，如股东、经营团队或项目团队。
去中心化元宇宙观，认为元宇宙是完全独立的，与实宇宙是平行宇宙关系。元宇宙的打造是由下而上的，所有功能、所有价值都由用户决定。其经济结构不再是资本主义，而是以人为本的人本主义。其中的虚拟土地，属于每个用户的私域领土，其私人主权任何人无法剥夺。元宇宙的价值由全体用户按照公平、公正和透明原则所共享。可以这么认为：自下而上打造奠定了元宇宙价值的实质，而这个实质中的价值公平和价值共享属性，体现的是元宇宙价值的基本精神。
元宇宙既然是独立宇宙、平行宇宙，那就说明元宇宙有自己不同于实宇宙的规律、规则和秩序。包括金融规律、规则和秩序。对这样重要的一个元宇宙实质，绝大多数人并没有意识到，或者还没有这个认知。
第二点，元宇宙与实宇宙是有明确分工的。
元宇宙与实宇宙是彼此并存的平行宇宙。手机、电脑、智能可穿戴设备或脑机接口设备就像虫洞，人类通过这些设备，可以在两个相互平行的宇宙间自由切换。而对于人类社会来说，这两个宇宙的出现和存在，是为了顺应正在到来的社会大分工。大分工在后面会有更详细描述，这里只是简单概括一下：
元宇宙将始终由人类主导，分工负责虚拟商品的制造和生产，主要满足人类不断增长的精神需求。
实宇宙将从现在的人类主导，逐步过渡给AI来主导，分工负责物质商品的制造和生产，主要满足人类不断增长的物质需求。
这就是未来人机共生时代的人机大分工。这种人机大分工，也被称为社会大分工、文明大分工或宇宙大分工。我们需要认识到，这个元宇宙并不是凭空冒出来的，而是人类社会科学技术和认知思维发展到一定程度的必然产物。它的诞生，有很重要的一个本质使命，就是为了完成以上人机大分工、宇宙大分工。而其核心技术进步，就是AI。所以，这既是AI在我们这个时代出现的根本价值和意义，也是人类文明发展到一个新的阶段后的必然选择。而要完成这个使命，人类必须从实宇宙迁徙到元宇宙，这将是一次跨宇宙大迁徙。遗憾的是，直到现在，世界上还极少有人认识到元宇宙的大分工、大迁徙本质。
第三点，元宇宙是人类精神和灵魂的家园。
人类这次从实宇宙迁徙到元宇宙，迁徙的显然不再是人类的肉身，而是人类的精神和灵魂。为了不造成理解上的歧义，这里我们对人类个体的“精神”和“灵魂”专门做了一个定义。
所谓“精神”，是指这个人内在世界的外在表现。包括可以呈现出来的一切思想、意识、文化、艺术，乃至生活、工作中的相关信息、内容和数据。
所谓“灵魂”，是指这个人的内在世界本体、或意识体、或本我。
最简单理解，目前的人工智能可以承载人的精神，但还无法承载人的灵魂。假设我们把这个人精神相关的信息、内容和数据上传到区块链人工智能中后，这个人工智能就能模仿这个人的精神习惯和思维模式，与其他人或AI进行对话和交流。我们就可以说，这个人的精神已经不会消亡了。现在，Chatgpt结合马斯克开发的人机接口，基本可以实现这一步了。最后，当科技进一步发展后，如果人类的本体、意识体或本我，也能随意迁移到区块链、或人工智能上，那么，就意味着人类的灵魂也将永生。也就意味着人类进入了真正永生的时代。
按照上述定义，元宇宙就是人类精神和灵魂的家园。在元宇宙中，人类的精神和灵魂不仅是唯一的，而且，还是可以永生的。当这一天来临时，人类在实宇宙中就可以有无数个实体分身。不仅可以在地球上有分身，甚至在火星上、月球上也可以有分身。而分身可以增减、可以变化、可以消亡。所以，未来在现实世界中，我们想知道眼前这个人究竟是分身还是本尊，需要到元宇宙中去求证。元宇宙比实宇宙更“真实”。这一点并不难理解，就像现在人们玩网络游戏一样。真身只有一个，可是，他在每个游戏中都能有一个分身，要确定分身的真实身份，只能求证真身。
对于人类而言，未来时代，元宇宙将比实宇宙更真实。至少目前，人们还很难接受，认为那只是科幻小说中的想象。但是，只要我们对时代进步、技术进步的发展趋势进行一番认真的观察和思考，建立这样一种认知还是完全可能的。有了上面的元宇宙认知观，就可以进一步来理解数字地球了。
（未完待续）
