What is a "meta" universe?

The whole world seems to be talking about "super universe". What is "Hyperuniverse"? Why the sudden fire? How far is it from us?

It's time to compete with your imagination.

What is "Hyperuniverse"? Up to now, there is no widely recognized exact definition, and people's description of it still stays in the stage of "competing imagination".

Recently, Facebook, an American social media platform, announced that the brand part of the platform was renamed as "Meta", and the "Meta Universe" proposed by its founder was intended to put real people into the network. He said in the video of his speech: "The platform and media in the next stage will make people feel more immersive. You will not just watch, but be in the "physical Internet". This is the "meta-universe" ... when I send my children's videos to my parents, they will feel together with us, not just through a small screen; When you play games with your friends, you will feel that you are in the same world as them, instead of facing the computer alone. "

In the video, he also presents various imaginary "super-universe" scenes. For example, during the meeting, real people, virtual people and robots appear in the same space. A woman wants to share the graffiti she saw on the real street through the internet connection, and this graffiti is vividly displayed in front of everyone in an instant.

Subsequently, many Internet practitioners have also thrown out their own understanding of the "meta-universe". Some people say that the wonder is its uncertainty. Some people say that people must change their way of thinking. "For example, now we think AR (Augmented Reality) is the gateway to the virtual world, but in the future it may become the link for us to return to the real world."

So, what do researchers think of the "hyperuniverse"? In 1992, Chen Jieyuan, an intelligent information processing scholar, quoted the concept put forward by neal stephenson, the originator of the metauniverse and a science fiction writer: the metauniverse is an online virtual world that is always parallel to the real world. In this world, everything can be realized in the virtual world except eating and sleeping.

In Chen Jie's view, although the emergence and development of "Hyperuniverse" will face many challenges in terms of technology and social norms, it is the inevitable trend of human interaction desire and technological development. Zhang Junping, who has been engaged in artificial intelligence research for many years, thinks: "Metauniverse is to let real people really live in the virtual world."

The Shenyang team of New Media Research Center of Tsinghua University School of Journalism and Communication tries to give a regular definition of "hyperuniverse".

In the recently released Research Report on the Development of Metauniverse (2020-202 1), they said: Metauniverse is a new Internet application and social form that integrates virtual and real things, and it provides immersive experience based on augmented reality technology.

The mirror image of the real world is generated based on mathematical twinning technology, and the economic system is built based on blockchain technology. The virtual world and the real world are closely integrated in the economic system, social system and identity system, so that each user can produce content and edit the world. There is also a row of small words under this string of concepts: "Metauniverse" is still an evolving concept, and different participants are constantly enriching its meaning in their own ways.

Encourage exploration and beware of flicker.

Even if the concept of "meta-universe" is not clear, it cannot be prevented from becoming the focus of capital and public opinion. Chen Jie said that human beings were not satisfied with the communication mode of bonfires and flying pigeons passing books, so they invented telephones and telegrams, not satisfied with only hearing voices, so they invented video calls, not satisfied with simply seeing the existing images on the plane, so they developed technologies such as virtual reality and augmented reality. In order to meet the dream of traveling around the world, we develop science and technology in the real world on the one hand, and build a virtual world through science and technology on the other.

However, when people see familiar technical terms such as augmented reality, digital twins, blockchain and artificial intelligence in the concept of "metauniverse", a series of question marks still inevitably emerge: "Is this a metauniverse?" Nothing new! Is it hype? "

Not long ago, Li Zhimin, former director of the Science and Technology Development Center of the Ministry of Education, published two articles in succession, expressing his cautious attitude towards the concept of "hyperuniverse". He believes that "any major change in an industry or industry is the result of the gradual accumulation of technology, and there are obvious signs", and this concept of "meta-universe" seems to have "suddenly popped out" after being packaged by capital.

There is also a voice that calmness gives birth to excitement. Shenyang gave three reasons why the' meta-universe' suddenly caught fire: social progress is technology-oriented, but in recent years, the concept of technology in the internet field has dried up; Ordinary users are tired of mobile phone aesthetics and look forward to new things; Capital lacks new hot spots and needs new directions.

Adhering to a rational and open attitude, Li Zhimin commented on the popularity of the "meta-universe": "Any exploration of the future development of mankind should be encouraged, and any flicker in the name of science needs vigilance." The ruler of technology is impossible to measure now. Whether the "Hyperuniverse" is a virtual fire or a real fire, it has created an opportunity for the world to focus on hot technologies. People are eager to know how far the "metauniverse" is from reality, so we should first pay attention to science and technology itself. As Chen Jie said, the level of science and technology in the real world determines the upper limit of "Hyperuniverse".

In order to find out the technical feasibility of the Hyperuniverse, Zhang Junping browsed the recently published Universal Certificate of China Hyperuniverse, and he was deeply impressed by an analysis chart of six supporting technologies of Juck Zhang Universe. He thinks that "Hyperuniverse" is like a "fruit platter". "There are not many breakthroughs in technology at present, but the industry hopes to integrate these technologies to form a brand-new application."

As one of the global technology giants, Microsoft has also laid out a "metauniverse". They believe that the essence of "metauniverse" is to build a digital world that is permanently and stably connected with the real world.

Qualcomm has accumulated more than ten years in the field of XR (augmented reality, virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality). When asked, "How far is XR technology from people's reality?" The head of the company's XR business in China said it was difficult to predict.

Looking at the domestic internet giants, the "meta-universe" seems more distant. An employee of a well-known Internet company revealed that it is not convenient for them to talk about the "meta-universe" at present for two reasons: First, the concept involves factors such as currency, and the policy risk is high; Second, the current technical level is far from meeting the requirements of creating a "meta-universe".

Chen Jie said frankly that "Hyperuniverse" is more like people's vision at present, which may bear people's confidence in technological development and people's desire for all kinds of "dreams come true".

Zhang Jun bluntly said: "At present, many core technical problems have not been solved." When asked, "How far is the hyperuniverse from reality?" He changed the subject and said, "I remembered a joke about blockchain on the Internet, saying,' At present, the profit of blockchain is mainly concentrated in lectures related to blockchain'"