The Need and Feasibility of the UN to Lead the Human Community in Creating a Digital Planet(018)
— An Open Letter to UN Secretary-General Guterres and Global Sages
5.2.4 The value of Metaverse and digital earth
Earlier, we talked about the human-machine great division of labour. Humans are engaged in the exploitation of spiritual resources and the production of spiritual goods in the Metaverse, satisfying human spiritual needs. Machines are engaged in the exploitation of material resources and the production of material goods in the Realverse, satisfying human material needs. In this way, many of the unresolved problems of human society today will be solved. For example, Yemen is now so economically backward that even if it were given the right to emit carbon, it might not be able to make much improvement in the short term. It would be even more unthinkable to limit its carbon emissions. But if Yemen’s nation-building were left to the machine, that is, to the SAGIPC we envisage, it would be perfectly possible to make the real world of Yemen as good as Dubai. But the problem is that Dubai is made of money. Yemen is so poor, how can it get so much money. And the huge amount of money needed to fix Yemen is only possible in a Metaverse, in a digital Earth. This is where this open letter was originally intended. But where exactly does the value of the Metaverse and Digital Earth come from, and why can so much money, so much wealth, be created. This is a question, although we have analysed it from several angles. But most people still can’t really understand it. Here, we combine the previous concept of the great division of labour between man and machine with a further look at how its value actually manifests itself from the perspective of market operations.
The centralised Metaverse launched by Facebook and Microsoft tells everyone that the Metaverse is nothing but a mapping and virtualisation of the real world. It is because people can easily understand its value. You see, in the past, TVs, computers, mobile phones and tablets could only support flat, two-dimensional video. Now, when you enter the Metaverse you will experience immersive 3D video, which is a much better experience. Then, in the future, the Metaverse will be able to replace the value of TVs, computers, mobile phones and tablets, which everyone can understand.
The value here, however, is still generated in the material world. It is still a redistribution of the value of the wealth of the stock market. The Metaverse replaces the market for TVs, computers and mobile phones, just as TVs and computers, previously, replaced the market for newspapers and magazines. Their Metaverse, expanded not the incremental market of new wealth. If the United Nations enters the Metaverse, it expands the value of this type of wealth still. Then it would still be following the financial laws of the Realverse and would still not be free from the clutches of the existing capitalist financial system.
As we see now, Bitcoin and Ether, assets that would have been part of the Metaverse economic system, are still subject to the control of real capital, for this very reason. Because they have not expanded into a new wealth system, they are still parasitic on the old one. If the United Nations, in the Digital Earth, were to expand the new wealth of the incremental market, a new wealth completely different from that of the traditional economy, the current capitalist financial mechanism of the real world would not be able to constrain it or control it. So, what is this new wealth in the Digital Planet and how does its value manifest itself? How can it be unconstrained by traditional capital.
In fact, this question is already answered by the nature of the value of the digital earth, which was talked about earlier. Where does the value of the wealth of the physical earth come from? From the material resources contained on the physical earth. Where does the value of the wealth of the digital earth come from? From the spiritual resources contained in the digital earth. It is difficult to imagine how this spiritual resource is translated into wealth value. More specifically, what does the money that the UN prints on this digital planet do, and is it worth anything if it cannot buy material goods? Will people still want to use it?
Here, let us imagine a future scenario in which:
In the digital earth of the Metaverse, human beings use their rich spiritual resources to innovate, create and produce a variety of spiritual goods — NFTs — which consumers must trade with a UN-issued digital currency in order to satisfy their spiritual needs, and because most of these NFTs have value-raising properties, their value can be continuously increased after purchase according to the value-raising rules. Just like character development and pet development in traditional computer games, the development is based on the enhancement of data, which in turn relies on the algorithmic trust built on the blockchain.
Obviously, this consensus of value built on algorithmic trust is measurable and verifiable for anyone, and such a consensus will be very unlikely to break. Once the consensus does not break down, the market price will not fall significantly. And with NFT value-raising data on the rise, this will lead to a continuous upward trend in the prices of spiritual goods across the digital planet.
This is when people find that investing in most of the spirit-based goods in the Digital Earth, the New Wealth of Inter-Civilization NFT, has a higher rate of return and makes more money than investing in real-world real estate, stocks or any other assets. As a result, capital in the Realverse also scrambled into the Metaverse in order to compete for profits and had to follow the new financial rules that operated on the Digital Earth of the Metaverse. At this point, not only is the new financial system in the Digital Earth no longer subject to the old financial system on the Physical Earth, but the old financial system will in turn be willingly subject to the new financial system.
Then we will see where the value in this market comes from? The new money printed by the UN is mainly used to trade such NFTs. When I say this, many people still do not understand. They always think that only the value of the real world, the value of real industries, is the real value. This is because there is not yet an essential knowledge of the wealth and economic phenomena of human society.
Figure 45 is a diagram by the famous Madison on the evolution of GDP over the last 2000 years of human society. What is this graph telling us? Human societies have been living on this planet for thousands of years. Why for thousands of years the rise in GDP has been a flat upward line. Instead, in the 20th century, it suddenly skyrocketed as if a flagpole had been erected. What kind of real wealth, a real economy, could make the total wealth of human society rise several thousand times in just a few decades?
This graph tells us a fact that cannot be denied: human society’s wealth has skyrocketed, not through real wealth, not through the real economy. It is precisely by virtual wealth, the virtual economy. Indeed, the categories of economic growth in the United States, as we set out in Figure 41 earlier, show this clearly.
Suffice it to say that when, in 1602, the world’s first stock hit the market, human society embarked on a journey to create vast wealth in the virtual economy. And when, in 1971, Nixon announced the unpegging of the dollar from gold. Little did he himself realise that it was such a decision that ushered in an era of virtual wealth in which the value of human society’s wealth was completely freed from the constraints of the real economy. In short, all our most valuable wealth values today — brands, patents, technologies, stocks, bonds, options …… etc. — are all virtual. The great wealth value of the new cross-civilizational wealth NFT in the digital earth is the same as these virtual wealth.
Even so, how can you not be bound by traditional finance. One might further question: Now, isn’t what Facebook and Microsoft are creating in the Metaverse equally spiritual goods, and not equally capable of creating NFT. why should their goods be subject to traditional finance. And what about the commodities you create in the digital earth, which can in turn constrain traditional finance?
This is a very good question. On the surface, the value-raising attribute is one difference between the two. But it doesn’t matter; the centralised Metaverse can still create spiritual goods with value-raising attributes. Looking deeper, the wealth of the centralised Metaverse is valued by a few shareholders, the capitalists. The wealth value of the decentralised Metaverse, on the other hand, accrues to all participants. This is not the fundamental point either. Many decentralised Metaverse economies, where the value is also shared by the public, are still subject to traditional finance. So what is the fundamental difference?
At a superficial level, the source of capital plays a role in determining this. In a centralised Metaverse, the start-up capital comes from traditional capital and is inevitably constrained by it. In the decentralised Metaverse, the start-up capital comes from the community, so it can be free from the control of traditional capital.
At a deeper level, it lies in the ecology, in the new economic ecology of value sharing. This is certainly more than can be explained in a sentence or two. But we have a very simple logic that can enlighten everyone’s thinking.
On the material earth, human material desires are indeed infinite. But because of the limited material resources and the limited means of exploitation, human needs are also limited under these two limited premises. If 1 fridge is not enough for my family, I buy 2, but 10 or 20 more are unnecessary. So, unless the refrigerator is upgraded, the refrigerator manufacturer cannot create value indefinitely.
But on a digital earth, human spiritual desires are also infinite. If one song is good, I can have 100 more like it, and as long as I don’t get tired of listening to it, I can have 1000 more. If I listen to 10 songs a day, I can listen to the same song every day. So, the creator of a song can create unlimited value.
What is articulated here is simply a value logic. Why wealth value can be created in Digital Earth, and why this wealth value can be infinitely enhanced. In fact, the infinite wealth value of this song is mainly formed by value nurturing, not simply created like 1+1 equals 2. I think the song is good, but there may be a few syllables in it that I am not quite satisfied with and need to be revised by the author or by me. After the revision, the song is already an updated version for me as a concrete object, and its value has increased. The process of the countless upgraded versions of the specific object is the process of nurturing the value of the song, the process of increasing its value.
And the reason why everyone is willing to nourish it is that, apart from the spiritual need, there is a profit motive. Because, in this, everyone is equal. Whoever puts in the most effort gets the highest reward. And the centralised Metaverse cannot do this because, capital must have profit. Once capital has a share of the profits, no one wants to work in socialized permaculture. Why should I work for you capital. Why don’t I go and raise a completely decentralised NFT. And it is precisely because this socialised nurturing allows more people to participate that the socialised consensus on this NFT is large, firm and unbreakable, and its value continues to rise. Thus, it continues to attract new economic capital, and even traditional economic capital, to enter.
Just like the Chinese market has a good money-making effect, hot money flows to China. The Indian market has a good money-making effect, and hot money flows to India. Capital is profit-seeking, and goes where the money is. If the Digital Earth market makes better money, of course, hot money will flow to the Digital Earth market. If this market allows any capital to enter and then make money consistently and steadily, what other choice does capital have? And the market that the UN is leading us to create in Digital Earth is such a market that can continue to make money steadily and forever. Such a market would be infinitely valuable in its own right. Markets like Coinbase, binance, they all have their own value, their own valuation of wealth. If they can make unlimited money for capital, do they themselves have unlimited value.
This is also just a value extrapolation. Ultimately, the value of a spiritual commodity must be placed in the context of the new economy in order to be accurately understood. Figure 55 illustrates the new economic model that we are about to create, a sustainable virtuous cycle of the digital earth in the Metaverse. It shows the logic of how the new economy is based on a virtuous cycle that continues to move forward. It gives us a general framework for understanding. To truly understand the new economic ecology on the digital earth, we must not only re-cognise wealth and wealth value, and money and money value, but we must also start with the concept of primary wealth and derived wealth on the digital earth, starting from the perception of the fairness of primary wealth and the infinity of wealth value.
(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.
5.2.4 元宇宙和数字地球的价值
前面，我们谈到了人机大分工。人类在元宇宙中从事精神资源开发和精神商品生产，满足人类的精神需求。机器在实宇宙中从事物质资源开发和物质商品生产，满足人类的物质需求。这样一来，当今人类社会的许多无解难题都将迎刃而解。比如，也门现在经济这么落后，即使给它碳排放权也未必能在短期内有很大改善。如果再限制其碳排放，那就更无法设想了。但是，如果把也门的国土建设交给机器，也就是交给我们设想的SAGIPC去管理，就完全可以将也门的现实世界建设得跟迪拜一样美好。可问题在于，迪拜是金钱砸出来的。也门这么穷，哪来这么多钱。而要解决也门所需要的庞大金钱，只有在元宇宙、在数字地球中才有可能。这也是本公开信初衷所在。可是，元宇宙和数字地球的价值究竟来自哪里，为什么可以创造如此多的钱、如此多的财富。这个问题，虽然我们已经从多个角度做过分析。但大多数人依然无法真正明白。这里，我们结合前面人机大分工理念，进一步从市场运行角度，来看看其价值究竟是怎么体现的。
脸书、微软推出的中心化元宇宙告诉大家，元宇宙只不过是现实世界的映射和虚拟化。就是因为人们容易理解它的价值。你看，以前的电视、电脑、手机、平板，都只能支持平面的二维视频。现在，你进入元宇宙中将感受到身临其境的三维视频，这种体验是不是好多了。那么，未来元宇宙就能取代电视、电脑、手机和平板的价值，这个人人都能理解。
但是，这里的价值，依然是在物质世界中产生的。依然是存量市场财富价值的再分配。元宇宙取代了电视、电脑和手机的市场，就像以前电视、电脑，取代了报纸和杂志的市场一样。他们的元宇宙，拓展的不是增量市场的新财富。如果联合国进入元宇宙，拓展的还是这类财富价值。那么，它遵循的还是实宇宙的金融规律，就依然摆脱不了现有资本主义金融体系的钳制。
就像现在我们看到的，比特币、以太坊这些本来属于元宇宙经济体系的资产，却依然要受到现实资本控制，道理就在这里。因为它们没有拓展出新的财富体系，依然寄生在旧有财富体系上。如果联合国在数字地球中，拓展的是增量市场新财富，是完全不同于传统经济的新财富，目前现实社会的资本主义金融机制就制约不了它、控制不了它了。那么，这个数字地球中的新财富究竟是什么，它的价值又是怎么体现的？它又怎么可以不受传统资本的制约。
其实，这个问题前面谈到的数字地球价值本质，就已经是答案了。物质地球的财富价值来自哪里？来自物质地球上蕴藏的物质资源。数字地球的财富价值来自哪里，来自数字地球上蕴藏的精神资源。这样说起来，似乎还是很空洞，人们很难想象，这个精神资源又究竟是怎么转化成财富价值的。更具体的说，联合国在这个数字地球中印的钱，究竟能干什么，这个钱如果不能购买物质商品，它还有价值吗？人们还愿意使用它吗？
这里，我们不妨想象这么一个未来场景：
人类在元宇宙的数字地球中，利用丰富的精神资源，不断创新、创造和生产出各种各样的精神型商品-NFT。消费者为了满足自己的精神需求，必须用联合国发行的数字货币来交易这些NFT。由于这些NFT大多具有价值养成属性，购买后可以按照价值养成规则不断提升其商品价值。就像传统电脑游戏中角色养成、宠物养成一样，养成的依据是数据的提升，而数据的提升又依赖于构建在区块链上的算法信任。
很显然，这种构建在算法信任基础上的价值共识，对于任何人来说，都具有可衡量性和可验证性，这样的共识就很不容易破裂了。共识一旦不会破裂、市场价格就不会出现大幅度回落。而NFT价值养成的数据又在不断上涨，这就会导致整个数字地球中精神型商品的价格都处在持续上涨的趋势下。
这时，人们会发现，投资数字地球中的大部分精神型商品，也就是跨文明新财富NFT，都比投资现实世界房地产、股票或其他任何资产的回报率更高、赚钱更多。于是，实宇宙中的资本为了逐利，也争先恐后涌入元宇宙，并不得不遵循元宇宙数字地球上的新金融规则来运转。这时候，不仅数字地球中的新金融体系不再受制于物质地球上的旧金融体系了，旧金融体系反过来会心甘情愿的被新金融体系所制约。
那么，我们就会看到，这个市场上的价值来自哪里？来自不断增值的跨文明新财富NFT。联合国新印出来的钱，主要是用来交易这类NFT的。这么说，很多人还是理解不了。他们总觉得，只有现实世界的价值、实体产业的价值，才是真正的价值。这是因为对人类社会的财富和经济现象，还没有本质上的认知。
图45是著名麦迪逊关于人类社会近2000年来，GDP发展变化的一张示意图。这张图在告诉我们什么？人类社会几千年来，始终是生活在这个地球上。为什么几千年来，GDP的上升都是一条平缓的上升线。而到了20世纪，却突然像立了一个旗杆似的暴涨起来了。什么样的实体财富、实体经济，才能让人类社会的财富总量，在短短几十年内，上涨几千倍？
这张图用数据告诉了我们一个无法否认的事实：人类社会的财富暴涨，不是靠实体财富、实体经济。恰恰靠的是虚拟财富、虚拟经济。事实上，我们在前面的图41中，列出的美国经济增长的类别，就已经清楚地显示了这一点。
可以这么说，当1602年，世界上第一只股票上市后，人类社会就踏上了在虚拟经济中创造巨额财富的历程。而当1971年，尼克松宣布美元与黄金脱钩时。他自己都没有意识到，正是这样一个决定，开启了人类社会财富价值彻底摆脱实体经济限制的虚拟财富时代。简言之，我们今天所有最值钱的财富价值，品牌、专利、技术、股票、债券、期权…… 等等，全部是虚拟的。数字地球中，跨文明新财富NFT的巨大财富价值，跟这些虚拟财富的道理是一样的。
就算如此，你怎么可能不受传统金融约束呢。有人会进一步质疑：现在，脸书、微软在元宇宙中所创造的不同样是精神型商品，不同样可以创造NFT。为什么它们的商品就要受制于传统金融。而你数字地球打造的商品，就能反过来制约传统金融呢？
这是一个很好的问题。表面看，价值养成属性是二者的一个区别。但这并不重要，中心化元宇宙照样可以打造有价值养成属性的精神型商品。再深入地看，中心化元宇宙的财富价值，是少数股东、资本家所得。而去中心化元宇宙的财富价值，是所有参与者所得。这也不是最根本的，很多去中心化的元宇宙经济，价值也让大众共享了，照样受制于传统金融。那本质区别究竟在哪里？
浅层次看，资本来源在起决定作用。中心化元宇宙，启动资金是来自传统资本的，必然受传统资本制约。而去中心化元宇宙，启动资金来自社区，所以，可以不受传统资本控制。
深层次看，在于生态，在于价值共享的新经济生态。这个问题当然更不是一两句话能讲明白的。但是我们有个很简单的逻辑，可以启迪大家的思路。
物质地球上，人类的物质欲望确实是无限的。可由于物质资源有限、开发手段有限，在这两个有限前提下，人类的需求也有限。我家里1台冰箱不够就买2台，但再多10台、20台就没必要了。所以，除非冰箱升级，否则，冰箱生产商是不能无限创造价值的。
可在数字地球上，人类的精神欲望也是无限的。但精神资源无限、开发手段也无限，于是，人类的需求也可以无限了。1首歌好听，类似的我可以再来100首，只要我听不厌，再来1000首都行。每天听10首，天天不重样。所以，歌曲创造者可以无限创造价值。
这里阐述的只是一个价值逻辑。在数字地球中为什么可以创造财富价值，而这个财富价值为什么可以无限提升。其实，这歌曲的无限财富价值，主要是靠价值养成形成的，而并非1+1等于2这样简单创造出来的。我认为这首歌好听，但是，可能其中还有哪几个音节我还不是很满意，需要作者修改、或者我自己修改。修改后这首歌，对于我这个具体对象来讲，已经是升级版了，其价值已经增加了。而无数具体对象升级版不断出现的过程，就是这首歌价值养成的过程，价值不断提升的过程。
而大家之所以人人都愿意去养成，除了精神需求外，还有利益驱使。因为，这里面，每个人都是平等。谁付出的努力最大，谁的回报就最高。而中心化元宇宙是做不到这一点的，因为，资本必须有利润。一旦资本占有了一部分利润，社会化养成就没人愿意干了。我干嘛要为你资本打工呢。我为什么不去养成彻底去中心化的NFT呢。又正是因为这种社会化养成，能让更多的人参与，所以，这种NFT的社会化共识才大、才坚定不可破裂，其价值才会持续上升。从而，不断吸引新经济资本，乃至传统经济资本进入。
就像中国市场的赚钱效应好，热钱就流向中国。印度市场的赚钱效益好，热钱就流向印度。资本是逐利的，哪里赚钱就往哪里去。数字地球赚钱效应更好，热钱当然也会流向数字地球市场。如果这个市场能让任何资本进入后，都能持续稳定的赚钱，那资本还有什么其他选择呢？而数字地球中，联合国要引领我们去打造的市场，就是这样一个可以持续稳定、永远不停赚钱的市场。这样的一个市场，是不是仅仅这个市场本身，就具有无限的价值了。就像Coinbase、binance这样的市场，它们是不是现在都有自己的价值、自己的财富估值。如果他们能让资本无限赚钱，它们本身是不是也具备无限价值了。
这也仅仅是一个价值推演。一件精神型商品的价值呈现及价值提升，最终，还是要将它放到新经济生态中才能准确理解。图55所呈现的，就是我们将要打造的，元宇宙中数字地球的可持续良性循环的新经济生态模型图。它呈现了新经济是如何在良性循环基础上，持续不断往前发展的逻辑。可以让我们得到一个大致的框架认知。而要真正认知数字地球上的新经济生态，我们不仅要重新认知财富和财富价值，重新认知金钱和金钱价值，还必须从认知数字地球的原生财富和派生财富概念入手，从认知原生财富的公平性和财富价值的无限性起步。
（未完待续）
