Big Bang of Science
What exactly is "Meta Universe"?
Encourage exploration to be vigilant
The whole world seems to be talking about "meta universe".
But the opinions surrounding this are divergent and inconsistent.
Some people think that facing this imaginative future world, they should open their arms and speed up, and some people have already made the starting posture. Others think that the popularity of "Meta Universe" is a capital hype, which is a technology that some companies have failed. A rescue by investment.
What exactly is "meta universe"?
Why is it suddenly on fire?
How far is it from us?
What is "Meta Universe"? It's time to compete for imagination
What is "meta universe"?
Up to now, "Meta Universe" has not been widely recognized as an exact definition, and people's description of it is still in the stage of "comparing imagination".
The "meta universe" proposed by the founder of American social media Facebook (Facebook), Zucker Berg, intends to put real people on the Internet.
He said in the speech video: "The next stage of platform and media will make people feel more immersive. You will not only watch from the side, but be in the'physical Internet'. This is' Meta Universe’.” For example, he said, “When I send my children’s videos to my parents, they will feel like they are with us, instead of just watching them through a small screen; when you play games with your friends At times, you will feel like you are in the same world with them instead of facing the computer alone."
In the video, he also showed a variety of hypothetical "meta-universe" scenes. For example, during a meeting, real people, virtual people, and robots appear in the same space, some people are sitting at the table, and some people are floating in the air.
A lady wanted to share the graffiti she saw on the real street through the Internet connection. This graffiti was vividly displayed in front of everyone in an instant, as if everyone was on that street.
Immediately afterwards, many Internet practitioners have also thrown out their own understanding of the "meta universe".
Some say that this is wonderful because of its uncertainty, "Innovation is circular, and the novel technologies we create can stimulate more innovation"; some say that people must change their way of thinking, "For example, now we think AR (augmented reality) is a gateway to the virtual world, but in the future, it may also become a link for us to return to the real world, allowing us to free ourselves from the immersive feeling of complete virtuality for a while without completely disconnecting."
So, what do researchers think of the "meta universe"?
In an interview with a reporter from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily, Chen Jie, a research scholar on intelligent information processing, quoted the "meta universe" and "originator"-science fiction writer Neil Stephenson proposed in his book "Avalanche" in 1992. Concept: "Meta universe" is a virtual world that is parallel to the real world and is always online.
In this world, except eating and sleeping need to be completed in reality, the rest can be achieved in the virtual world.
In Chen Jie's view, although the emergence and development of "meta universe" will face many technical and social norms challenges, 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, believes that "the'meta universe' is to allow real people to truly live in a virtual world."
The Shenyang team of the New Media Research Center of the School of Journalism and Communication of Tsinghua University tried to give a regular definition of "meta universe".
They mentioned in the recently released "Meta Universe Development Research Report 2020-2021": "Meta Universe" is a new type of Internet application and social form that integrates a variety of new technologies and is based on extended reality technology. Immersive experience, based on digital twin technology to generate a mirror image of the real world, build an economic system based on blockchain technology, closely integrate the virtual world and the real world in the economic system, social system, and identity system, and allow each user to produce content And the world editor.
There is also a row of small characters under this series of concepts: "Meta universe" is still a concept that is constantly evolving and evolving, and different participants continue to enrich its meaning in their own ways.
Why is "Meta Universe" hot? Encourage exploration to be vigilant
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 method of beacon and flying pigeons, so they invented the telephone and telegraph; they were not satisfied with only hearing the sound and wanted to see the state of the other party, so they invented the video call; they were not satisfied with simply seeing the plane. , Existing images, so technologies such as virtual reality and augmented reality have been developed.
In order to satisfy the dream of traveling the world "like a fairy", human beings develop technology in the real world on the one hand, and build a virtual world through technology on the other.
Obviously, the latter method is easier to realize the wishes of human beings due to the lack of a lot of physical restrictions.
However, when people see the well-known technical terms such as extended reality, digital twins, blockchain, artificial intelligence, etc. appearing in the concept of "meta universe", they still inevitably raise a series of question marks: "This is what the "meta universe" is? Nothing. New stuff! Is it hype?"
In other words, is it too early to discuss the "meta universe"?
Not long ago, Li Zhimin, former director of the Science and Technology Development Center of the Ministry of Education, posted two consecutive posts on his WeChat public account, expressing his cautious attitude towards the concept of "meta universe".
He believes that “any major change in any industry or industry is the result of gradual accumulation of technology and has obvious signs”, and the concept of “meta universe” this time seems to have “suddenly popped out” after being packaged by capital. Same.
There is also a voice who believes that it is precisely calm that gives birth to excitement.
Shenyang gave three reasons for "Why the'Meta Universe' suddenly became popular": social advancement is based on technology, but the technical concepts in the Internet field have been exhausted in recent years; ordinary users are tired of the aesthetics of mobile phones and look forward to new things; capital There is a lack of new hot spots and new directions are needed.
Adhering to a rational and open attitude, Li Zhimin commented on the popularity of "Meta Universe", "Any exploration of the future development of mankind should be encouraged, and any flicker in the name of science needs to be vigilant."
How far is the "meta universe" from reality? Technology this ruler can't measure it now
Regardless of whether the "meta universe" is virtual fire or real fire, it creates an opportunity for the whole world to focus on the hot technology.
People are eager to know how far the "meta universe" is from reality, and they must first focus on technology itself.
As Chen Jie said, the technological level of the real world determines the upper limit of the "meta universe".
On the one hand, human’s understanding of the laws of nature, physics, and the real world in reality determines what can exist in the "meta universe"; on the other hand, the current level of technology determines to what extent the "meta universe" can be realized. It is determined whether the "virtual reality" can really immerse people in it, even hard to extricate themselves, and fulfill part of the functions of human society, or can only be regarded as a high-end three-dimensional toy.
In order to find out the technical feasibility of "Meta Universe", Zhang Junping browsed the book "Meta Universe Token" recently published in China. In the book, he was deeply impressed by the analysis of the "six major supporting technologies of "Meta Universe"".
The six technologies are: blockchain, Internet of Things, network and computing, artificial intelligence, electronic game technology, interactive technology (including VR virtual reality, AR augmented reality, MR mixed reality, etc.).
Zhang Junping believes that "Meta Universe" is like a "fruit platter". "Currently, there are not many breakthroughs in technology, but the industry hopes to integrate these technologies to form a new application."
What do industry leaders who master technology think about the distance between the status quo of technology and the "meta universe"?
As one of the global technology giants, Microsoft has also laid out a "metauniverse", but they currently have not much public content.
Microsoft said that the essence of "meta universe" is to build a digital world that is permanently and steadily connected to the real world.
Microsoft's related technologies can provide the resources needed to drive the "meta universe", including building a "digital twin" Internet of Things services for the real world in the cloud; using mixed reality devices to create a relevant platform with a sense of presence; and in artificial intelligence. With the help of natural language interaction, machine learning models for visual processing, etc.
But they said that it is not convenient to disclose more details for the time being.
Qualcomm said that they have accumulated more than ten years in the field of XR (Extended Reality, a collective term for virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality).
When asked, "How far is the XR technology from making it difficult to distinguish between the real and the virtual", Guo Peng, the head of the company's XR business in China, said: "We can't predict how long it will take."
He told reporters: “Spatial computing is the key technology of XR. It contains two major levels. The first level is the user’s physical perception, that is, knowing'where am I, what am I doing'. The second level is spatial positioning. That is, the perception of the environment.” Qualcomm is investing heavily in spatial computing at these two levels.
Spatial computing requires high accuracy. For example, user perception involves hand and eye tracking, while environmental perception cannot do without the support of plane detection and scene recognition. These require the help of vision technology, cloud AI (artificial intelligence) and related The collaborative work of technology can be realized.
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Turning to the domestic Internet giants again, "Meta Universe" seems to be farther away.
An employee of a well-known Internet company revealed that they are currently inconvenient to talk about the "meta universe" for two reasons. The requirements of the universe.
Chen Jie said frankly that the current "meta universe" is more like people's vision. This vision may carry people's confidence in technological development and also carry people's desire for various "dreams to come true".
He said: "We believe that the advancement of the'meta universe' can lead to a large number of studies, but we should also realize that the real'meta universe' is still far away."
Zhang Junping said bluntly: "Currently, many core technical problems have not been resolved, such as artificial intelligence, which is still in its infancy."
When asked "how far is the'meta universe' from reality", he changed his mind and said: "I think of a joke about the blockchain on the Internet, saying,'Currently, the profit of the blockchain is mainly concentrated in the district. "Blockchain related lectures."
China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily reporter Zhang Qian Source: China Youth Daily