The Need and Feasibility of the UN to Lead the Human Community in Creating a Digital Planet(027)
— An Open Letter to UN Secretary-General Guterres and Global Sages
5.4 Metaverse Thought and Humanist
The entire middle section, also known as the cognition section, can be said to be basically expounded here. This is also the theoretical part of our proposed “United Nations-led entry of human society into the metaverse, the creation of a digital Earth, and the realization of self-rescue for both the United Nations and humanity.” We might as well call it “Metaverse Thought,” a new idea that can only be born in the era of human intellectual civilization and within the metaverse. It corresponds to the “Realverse Thought” formed over thousands of years since the birth of human civilization. If “Realverse Thought” has nurtured Capitalism, then “Metaverse Thought” will nurture Humanist.
Thoughts and ideologies, as part of human consciousness, are means for humans to understand and construct social, economic, and political systems and have developed throughout human civilization history. More importantly, these thoughts and ideologies can shape human society, provide a framework for understanding the world, and guide political, social, and economic organizations. They usually emerge in response to specific historical backgrounds and challenges and evolve over time as society and its needs change.
For example, Confucian thought in China played a decisive role in giving birth to Chinese feudalism. Meanwhile, Christian thought, especially Protestantism, played an important role in fostering American Capitalism. As for the thoughts of Marx and Engels, they played a fundamental role in the rise of global socialism.
From ancient times to the present, it is clear that there is a significant difference between social practices guided by theoretical thoughts and those without. Taking the practice of the Chinese New Democratic Revolution as an example, after the success of the Xinhai Revolution, the imperial system was overthrown, and hundreds of warlords of various sizes emerged within China. These warlords each had their territory, money, guns, and power. At that time, the National Revolutionary Army and the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army had not yet been established. The various major warlords fought for many years, but none of them could unify China. In 1926, the National Revolutionary Army, which had been established for less than two years but was guided by the Three People’s Principles thought, began the Northern Expedition and defeated the Beiyang warlords in just over two years, at least nominally unifying China. Eventually, the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army (later renamed the Chinese People’s Liberation Army), guided by Marxism, defeated the National Revolutionary Army. In 1949, the People’s Republic of China was established, completing the substantive unification of China.
In addition, the Chinese feudal society, considered the most stable and longest-lasting social system in the world, is fundamentally different from other European feudalisms due to its theoretical thought system support. Chinese feudalism was essentially built on the theoretical system of Chinese Confucian thought. During the historical period when Chinese feudal society continued to develop, Chinese Confucian thought was further improved and developed. They often complemented each other.
In summary, social practices guided by theoretical thoughts have at least the following obvious advantages compared to social practices without theoretical thoughts:
First, the practice efficiency is higher, and the speed is faster, often achieving more with less and winning against stronger forces with weaker ones. The armies of the Chinese Nationalist and Communist parties at the time were undoubtedly quite weak compared to the large warlords that ruled parts of the country. However, because they were guided by theoretical thoughts such as the Three People’s Principles and Communism, they were able to defeat the powerful local warlords and unify China as an example.
Second, the practice results are better, and the achievements are greater, often creating more significant social wealth. The Chinese feudal society guided by Confucian thought created an economic prosperity that lasted for 1,000–2,000 years. In contrast, Western European feudal societies during the same period lacked such systematic theoretical guidance, and their economic achievements were relatively much smaller. Similarly, American capitalism, deeply influenced by Christianity (mainly Protestant thought), absorbed theories such as neoclassical economics, Keynesianism, and neoliberalism as guidance for its practice. This created an unprecedented economic development miracle in human history, far surpassing other Western capitalist countries that developed earlier but lacked theoretical guidance.
The guiding significance of theoretical thought is particularly important in today’s era. After the birth of internet technology, it gave rise to the internet economy. After the birth of blockchain technology, it gave rise to the blockchain economy. These new economies have all created tremendous wealth value at one point. However, due to their lack of systematic theoretical thought guidance or support, their development to date remains only an upgraded or online version of the traditional economy. They have not developed a completely new economic form, especially in terms of bringing new wealth to the incremental market for human society. This is undoubtedly a significant regret.
Our “cognition section” and this “Metaverse Thought” certainly hope to make up for this regret. But the more important significance lies not here, but in the previously mentioned “establishing this as a reference.” Let’s explain this in detail.
The entire “belief” witness system we designed actually contains two main parts. One part is the “Metaverse Thought,” which is the middle section (cognition section, theory section), mainly reflecting strategic witnessing. The other part is the “Metaverse Engineering,” which is the lower section (plan section, practice section), mainly reflecting tactical witnessing. These two parts need to work closely together, and neither can function well without the other.
This is like the artificial forest construction and natural forest evolution we discussed earlier. Artificial forests require planning, such as which species to plant, how to match them, and what to plant first and later. All of these need to be planned in advance according to botanical laws and forest ecology laws. Natural forests, on the other hand, are not so complicated; they will naturally evolve according to the growth environment. The difference between them is that, on one hand, the construction time of artificial forests is tens or even hundreds of times faster than natural evolution. On the other hand, the same piece of wasteland can be successfully turned into a forest following objective laws, while natural evolution may not necessarily do so, possibly turning the wasteland into a desert instead.
The “Metaverse Thought” is the overall plan for turning this wasteland into a forest. The “Metaverse Engineering” is the specific practice of constructing this forest. The coordination of overall planning and specific practice is obviously extremely important.
The ancient Chinese Confucian thought is an overall plan for the development of a feudal society. Although many new cognitions, thoughts, and theories were developed later, they all remained within the framework of this overall plan. These additions improved and perfected the overall plan. As a result, this plan not only ensured the prosperous and stable development of Chinese society for thousands of years but also did not bring any serious damage or harm to human society or nature. More importantly, it ensured that Chinese civilization could rise like a phoenix from the ashes, becoming the only ancient civilization among the five major civilizations that have continued to this day.
As for Christianity and Protestantism, they are not the overall plans for the development of American capitalism but merely some of their doctrines and thoughts that have had a significant impact on its development. Subsequent thoughts and theories such as neoclassical economics, Keynesianism, and neoliberalism are not improvements to Christianity but separate systems. This has made American capitalism’s development, although supported by theoretical thoughts, fragmented and lacking an overall plan. This has made its development more like a naturally evolving forest, going wherever it leads. It may hope to evolve into a forest, but it could also end up becoming a desert.
The “Metaverse Thought” is the overall plan for the development of a Humanist society in the digital Earth during the era of wisdom civilization. In this case, it is evident that “humanism” should correspond to “capitalism.” Therefore, “humanism” is a new economic system and the economic foundation for building a new “Humanist” society. It is also the new economic system that the United Nations and humanity need for self-rescue, to “print money for themselves and use the money they print for themselves.” As for the “Metaverse Thought,” it is, of course, the superstructure for building a new “Humanist” society.
By now, the overall outline of the “Metaverse Thought” has been fully presented in this middle section. Here, let’s briefly summarize the entire middle section (cognition section, theory section).
In the previous section, we discussed that the key to the self-rescue of the United Nations, humanity, and the Earth depends on money. As long as there is enough money, all these self-rescue efforts can be achieved. However, the problem lies in where such a huge amount of money comes from. The entire middle section revolves around this core issue.
We believe that to solve the money problem, especially the huge amount of money, is actually quite simple — it is for the United Nations to lead human society into the metaverse and create a digital Earth. On the digital Earth, a new economic system completely different from the material Earth’s economic system can be built. Then, “printing money for ourselves and using the money we print” would suffice. Moreover, this new economic system is an infinite value system, where money can be printed infinitely under the premise of following its economic laws. With such an inexhaustible sum of money, we can completely help achieve the self-rescue of the United Nations, humanity, and the Earth.
The above statement is actually a “fictional story.” Although this “fictional story” seems incredible and is even less likely to be believed, the fact is that human development on Earth is pieced together by a series of “fictional stories.” From ancient myths and legends, feudal manor systems, imperial systems, the three major religions, capitalism, to the companies, stocks, options, and even countries and currencies that we know today, all are crystallizations of “fictional stories.” As long as a “fictional story” can make more people believe in it, it can form a powerful force to change the world. The self-rescue of the United Nations and humanity is no exception.
However, how to make people believe in this “fictional story,” especially the vast majority, is very difficult. We fully understand this and have not made such a plan. Because we have made a new discovery — capitalism, this “fictional story,” has been able to make most people in the world believe and trust it within less than 300 years because it has created a system of “Belief” testimony: the capitalist market economic system. Anyone can practice and obtain testimony in this system. With each successful testimony, even those who didn’t believe before have no choice but to believe.
Therefore, our “cognition section” is not aimed at changing people’s cognition and making everyone “believe.” Instead, it uses this “cognition section” and the subsequent “plan section” to jointly build a “Belief” testimony system: a Humanist digital economic system. Let people practice, verify, and obtain testimony in this system. As long as this testimony system can successfully allow people to obtain testimony, people will eventually believe in this “fictional story,” thus forming a huge force to change the world.
Furthermore, we have found that there is a method and shortcut to building a successful “trust” testimony system. This method and shortcut is to learn from nature and build a distributed self-organizing ecosystem. Such a system has self-matching, self-coordination, self-organization, self-correction, and self-evolution functions. As long as it is built according to its rules, there is basically no possibility of failure. In this way, the “trust” problem of the vast majority of people in the world can be perfectly solved.
Finally, there is only one problem left. The self-rescue of the United Nations and humanity is imminent. Can this successful testimony system be built in the shortest possible time, such as 3–5 years or even shorter? We think there is no problem. Because the three core principles we summarized for building a distributed self-organizing system, sharing, timeliness, and reliability, can greatly increase the speed of information circulation. It can be at least 10 times faster than the capitalist system. The faster wealth is created, the faster people make money, and the faster people obtain testimony. Assuming a person needs 10–20 years of testimony in the capitalist system to fully believe, then in the Humanist economic system, 1–2 years would be enough.
Up to this point, the middle section has covered all theoretical and cognitive issues related to the self-rescue plans of the United Nations and humanity. Next is our final section, which is the specific plan section. It will show how to carry this “fictional story” and how to turn humanity’s pursuits and dreams over the millennia into reality, step by step.
(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（027）
— — 致联合国秘书长古特雷斯及全球贤达的公开信
5.4 元宇宙思想与人本主义
整个中篇，也就是认知篇，到这里可以说基本阐述完毕。这也是我们提议的“联合国带领人类社会进入元宇宙、打造数字地球，实现联合国自救、人类自救方案”的理论篇。我们也不妨将它称之为：“元宇宙思想”。一种只能在人类智慧文明时代、在元宇宙中诞生的新思想。它对应的是人类文明诞生几千年来形成的“实宇宙思想”。如果说“实宇宙思想”孕育了“资本主义”，那么，“元宇宙思想”孕育的将是“人本主义”。
思想和主义作为人类意识形态的一部分，是人类理解和构建社会、经济和政治制度的一种手段，在整个人类文明史中得到了发展。更重要的是，这些思想和主义能够塑造人类社会，为理解世界提供框架，并指导政治、社会和经济组织。它们通常是针对特定的历史背景和挑战而出现的，并且随着社会及其需求的变化而随着时间的推移而演变。
例如，中国的儒家思想，对催生中国的封建主义起到了决定性作用。而基督教思想，尤其是新教思想，对催生美国资本主义也起到了重要作用。至于马克思、恩格斯思想，更是对全球社会主义的兴起，起到了根本性作用。
从古到今，很清楚的一点就是。有思想理论作指导的社会实践，与没有的，有着极大区别。以中国新民主主义革命实践为例。辛亥革命成功后，帝制被推翻，中国境内出现了大大小小几百个军阀。这些军阀割据一方，都有地盘、有钱、有枪、有势力。那时候，国民革命军、中国工农红军还都没成立。各大军阀混战多年，也没有任何一派能够统一中国。1926年，成立不足两年，但有三民主义思想作指导的国民革命军开始北伐，仅仅用了两年多时间就击败了北洋军阀，至少在名义上统一了中国。最终，用马克思主义做理论指导的中国工农红军（后改名中国人民解决军），又击败了国民革命军。于1949年成立了中华人民共和国，完成了中国的实质性统一。
此外，像中国的封建社会，被认为是世界上最稳定、延续时间最长的社会制度。其根本原因，就在于它与欧洲其它封建主义不同，有思想理论体系支撑。中国的封建主义社会，基本是构建在中国儒家思想这套理论体系之下的。而在中国封建社会延续发展的这个历史时期，中国的儒家思想又得到了进一步的完善和发展。它们往往相辅相成。
综上所述，具备理论思想指导的社会实践，相比没有理论思想的社会实践，至少在以下方面具有明显优势。
其一，实践效率更高、速度更快，往往可以以小博大、以弱胜强。当年中国的国民党、共产党军队，相比那时割据一方的大军阀们，无疑是相当弱小的。但由于他们有三民主义、共产主义等理论思想做指导，最终能战胜强大的地方军阀，统一中国就是例证。
其二，实践效果更好、成就更大，往往能创造更显著的社会财富。以儒家思想为指导的中国封建社会，创造了长达1000–2000年的中国经济繁荣。而同时期西欧封建主义社会，由于缺乏这种系统理论思想指导，其经济成就相对就要小得多。同样道理，深受基督教、主要是新教思想洗礼的美国资本主义，在其发展过程中，又吸收了新古典经济学、凯恩斯主义和新自由主义理论作为其实践指导。也创造了人类历史上前所未有的经济发展奇迹，远远超越了西方其他资本主义发展更早、但缺乏理论指导的国家。
理论思想的指导意义，在当今这个时代显得尤为重要。
互联网技术诞生后，催生了互联网经济。区块链技术诞生后，又催生了区块链经济。这些新经济，都一度创造了巨大的财富价值。但是，由于它们都缺乏系统理论思想的指导或支撑。以至于发展至今，依然只能是传统经济的升级版或者线上版，未能发展出全新的经济形态，尤其是未能给人类社会带来增量市场的新财富。这不能不说是一个很大的遗憾。
我们这个“认知篇”、这个“元宇宙思想”，当然希望能弥补这个遗憾。但更重要的意义还不在这里，而在于前面说过的“立此存照”。这里具体解释一下。
我们设计的整个“信”的见证系统，实际上包含了两大部分。
一部分是“元宇宙思想”，也就是中篇（认知篇、理论篇）。主要体现战略见证。另一部分就是“元宇宙工程”了。也就是下篇（方案篇、实践篇），主要体现战术见证。这两个部分需要紧密配合，离了谁都不好使的。
这就好比我们前面谈到过的人工建造森林与自然演化森林。人工森林是需要规划的，要种植哪些品种，如何搭配，先种什么、后种什么。都需要按照植物学规律、森林生态规律事先规划好。而自然森林就没这么麻烦，会根据生长环境自然演化。它们的区别就在于，一方面，人工森林的建造时间会比自然演化快几十倍、甚至几百倍。另一方面，同一片荒地，人工遵循客观规律建造森林一定能成功。而自然演化就不一定了，有可能将这片荒地演化成了沙漠。
“元宇宙思想”，就是将这片荒地建造成森林的总体规划。“元宇宙工程”，就是建造这片森林的具体实践。总体规划与具体实践的配合，显然极其重要。
中国古代的儒家思想，就是一个封建主义社会发展的总体规划。尽管后期也发展出了很多新的认知、思想、理论，但都是在这个总体规划的框架内。是对这个总体规划的补充、改进和完善。所以，这个规划不仅保障了中国社会数千年繁荣稳定的发展，对人类社会、对大自然，都没有带来任何严重的破坏或损害。更重要的是，它还保障了中华文明能够起凤凰涅槃、浴火重生，成为人类五大文明中唯一一支延续至今的古老文明。
至于基督教、新教，并不是美国资本主义发展的总体规划，而仅仅是其中一些教义和思想，对美国资本主义发展起到了重要影响。随后像新古典经济学、凯恩斯主义、新自由主义等各种思想和理论，也并非对基督教的完善，而是各成体系。这就使得美国资本主义发展，尽管有思想理论支撑的。但这些思想理论都是碎片化的，没有总体规划。这就使得美国资本主义的发展，更像是自然演化的森林，走到哪里算哪里。希望演化成森林，最后却演化成了沙漠，都有可能。
“元宇宙思想”，就是智慧文明时代，数字地球中“人本主义”社会发展的总体规划。那么，很显然。“人本主义”所对应的，就应该是“资本主义”了。因此，“人本主义”是一套新经济体系，是构建新型“人本主义”社会的经济基础。也是联合国自救、人类自救，需要“自己给自己印钱，自己用自己印的钱”的新经济体系。而“元宇宙思想”呢，当然就是构建新型“人本主义”社会的上层建筑了。
到此为止，“元宇宙思想”的总体概况，已经在这个中篇里全部呈现了出来。这里，也将整个中篇（认知篇、理论篇）做个简要归纳。
上篇我们谈到，联合国自救、人类自救、地球自救，关键都取决于金钱。只要有足够的钱，所有这些自救都能有办法实现。可问题就在于，这么数额巨大的金钱从何而来。整个中篇就是围绕这个核心问题而展开。
我们认为，要解决金钱问题、而且是数额巨大的金钱问题。其实很简单，就是联合国引领人类社会进入元宇宙，打造数字地球。在数字地球上构建一套完全不同于物质地球经济系统的新经济体系，然后，“自己给自己印钱、自己用自己印的钱”就行了。而且，这个新经济体系，是一个无限价值体系。可以在遵循其经济规律的前提下无限印钱。有了这样一笔永远用不完的钱，就完全可以帮助我们实现联合国自救、人类自救和地球自救了。
上面这个说法其实就是一个“虚构故事”。而这个“虚构故事”似乎是不可思议的，就更没人会相信了。可事实上，人类在地球上的发展史，就是由一系列“虚构故事”拼接而成的。从远古的神话传说，到封建庄园制、皇帝制，以及三大宗教、资本主义，直至我们今天所熟知的公司、股票、期权，甚至国家、货币，全都是“虚构故事”的结晶。只要一个“虚构故事”能让更多人相信，就能形成改变世界的巨大力量。联合国自救、人类自救自然也不例外。
但是，如何让人们相信这个“虚构故事”，尤其是让绝大多数人相信。这就太难了。对此，我们非常明白，也没作这个打算。因为，我们有了一个新的发现。就是资本主义这个“虚构故事”，之所以能在不到300年时间内，让世界上绝大多数人都相信、并信得足。是因为它打造了一套“信”的见证体系：资本主义的市场经济体系。任何人都可以在这个体系中去实践并得到见证。随着一次次成功见证，以往再不相信的人都不得不信。
故而，我们这个“认知篇”并不是想转变人们的认知，让大家“信”。而是用这个“认知篇”和随后的“方案篇”，共同构建一个“信”的见证体系：人本主义数字经济体系。让人们在这个体系中去实践、去验证，去获得见证。只要这个见证体系能成功让人们获得见证，人们最终就一定会相信这个“虚构故事”，从而形成改变世界的巨大力量。
进一步，我们又发现构建一个成功“信”的见证体系，是有方法可依，有捷径可循的。这个方法和捷径，就是像大自然学习，构建分布式自组织生态系统。这样的系统具有自磨合、自协调、自组织、自修正、自进化功能，只要遵循其规律构建起来了，基本就没有失败的可能。这样一来，就可以完美解决世界上绝大多数人“信”的问题了。
最后，就只剩下一个难题。联合国自救、人类自救已经迫在眉睫。能否在尽可能短的时间内，比如3–5年，甚至更短时间内，构建好这个成功见证体系。我们认为也没问题。因为我们总结的构建分布式自组织系统的三大核心原则，共享性、及时性和可靠性，都能极大提升信息流转速度。至少能比资本主义体系提高10倍以上。创造财富速度越快，意味着人们赚钱速度越快。也就意味着人们获得见证的速度越快。假定一个人在资本主义体系中，需要10–20年的见证，才能完全信得足。那么，在人本主义经济体系中，1–2年就够了。
到此为止，中篇所能考虑到的，涉及到联合国自救、人类自救方案的所有理论问题、认知问题，都全部表述完了。接下来，就是我们的下篇，也就是具体方案篇，它是如何承载这个“虚构故事”的，又是如何将人类千百年来的追求和梦想，一步一步变为现实的。
（未完待续）
