元宇宙正在形成，互联网最终将再次被改变。

“元宇宙”一词最早出现在科幻小说中。美国科幻作家尼尔斯蒂芬森在他 1992 年的科幻小说《雪崩》中首次创造了“元宇宙”一词。在这部小说中，所谓的元界是指现实世界与由增强现实和虚拟现实技术创造的虚拟世界相混合的状态。虽然这部作品在科幻界的影响力不如另一位科幻大师威廉·吉布森 1984 年出版的类似作品《神经漫游者》，但从那时起，随着网络世界元界的飞速发展，“元界”一词“世界” ”已经停在人们的视野中，然后不时被各种作品引用。

元宇宙是一个新生的概念，它甚至还没有原型。当我们从现实中审视它时，我们会发现还有很多问题难以解决，我们只能寄希望于未来。在科技巨头想象的元宇宙中，每个人都不仅仅是一个卡通化身。所谓“虚拟化身”，是指虽然虚拟世界中的形象与现实世界中的容貌、衣着不同，但他的举止、姿势和习惯，甚至面部表情和眼神都会被复制到现实世界中。 . 在虚拟世界中——只有实现了这些目标，虚拟世界中的化身之间的互动甚至眼神交流才成为可能。

这种强烈的科幻未来主义场景在扎克伯格的视频中得到了淋漓尽致的展示，但显然远未成为现实。而且很容易看出，这一目标绝不是当前类似眼镜的虚拟现实设备所能达到的。例如，要在虚拟世界中实现人与人之间的眼神交流，只能跟踪人的头部运动的虚拟现实设备是根本不可能的。除了头部的运动，仪器至少需要能够跟踪人眼的运动。

所谓的“眼神交流”还包括在元宇宙中，人们可以通过彼此的虚拟分身读出彼此的面部表情——要知道，人的脸上可以呈现出上万种表情，这些都依赖于面部肌肉的微妙组合运动达到。为了在虚拟世界中复制数以万计的细微面部表情，现有的虚拟现实设备无法做任何事情。扎克伯格在视频中提到，Meta 正在开发一个名为“Cambria”的项目，该项目未来将能够更忠实地将人脸投影到元宇宙中。即使视频中通过电脑特效展现的场景，也只有人脸首先被当成卡通片处理，

This difference between real and virtual worlds is not difficult to understand. The rich facial expressions of human beings are the result of long-term evolution and social life. They contain a huge amount of information, and it is difficult to complete virtualization through simple data processing. As for whether this problem can be really solved when the technology is more mature in the future, it is still difficult to predict. Aside from facial expressions, getting your avatar to walk freely in the metaverse and replicate your behavior in the real world is far from a gamepad-like control device. Finish.

In order for the virtual avatar to imitate the posture of its own walking, it is even more necessary to replicate the coordinated movements of many muscles and bones in the human body. This task required people to wear millions of dollars in motion capture equipment to complete, most of which are games. The company has this demand in order to design the actions of the characters in the game. If every member of the Metaverse demands that their avatars simulate their facial expressions and movement habits in real life to the greatest extent possible, then in addition to a set of devices that can perfectly scan the subtle changes in the face, at least It takes a set of wearables full of sensing devices.

It can be seen that if you want to enter the so-called "everything can be virtual" metaverse, let a virtual avatar perfectly copy yourself in real life, and live in a wonderful virtual world, it seems that there are almost insurmountable technical problems. ——Even without considering the economic and technical difficulties, it is an unattainable goal for most people to enter the metaverse wearing motion capture devices every day in real life, and have an immersive experience for hours on end.

To show that people can work more easily in the Metaverse, Zuckerberg's video shows a person wearing a VR headset with electrodes attached to their fingers so that workers can watch through the virtual reality The screen displayed by the device is tapped with a finger while the electrode tracks the movement of the finger, which is equivalent to tapping the finger on a virtual keyboard, so that information can be sent and the interaction with the other party can be completed.

The problem is that people need far more contact and interaction in the metaverse. If the traditional office work is still based on making calls, writing, sending and receiving emails, and it can barely be done by tracking finger movements (this kind of work efficiency is not necessarily higher than typing a real keyboard in front of a computer screen), then think To achieve the real and natural interaction between people in the metaverse that is currently advocated, it is simply impossible to achieve with existing technology. After all, there is no program that can replace a real hug and kiss.

Given these practical difficulties, it is more likely that the metaverse presented in the future will be dominated by manga or artistic avatars. The so-called virtual avatar is nothing more than a variety of matching among several pre-set images. To get a more personalized image and decoration, it is necessary to spend non-fungible tokens to buy. As for how to digitize the contact and interaction between people, or between virtual avatars, how to approach reality step by step, and simulate human touch and even smell, there is still no answer.

In the metaverse, the concept and volume of data will also be completely different from what it is now. The movements, expressions and languages ​​of billions of avatars will be stored. This huge amount of data is difficult to store and process, yet private. Matthew Ball argues that we have five fundamental unanswered questions about the metaverse: data rights, data security, extremes, disinformation, and platform power. To put it simply, who does the data in the metaverse belong to, who does the metaverse platform belong to, and how should the various security issues be guaranteed? There are no clear answers to this series of questions.

在1990年代上映的香港电影《杀手之王》中，电脑通过反复对比监控录像中杀手行走的背部姿势，最终确认了任达华饰演的杀手的身份。这种科幻电影的情节很可能会在未来的元宇宙世界中继续上演——要知道，每个人的走路方式、做出某种动作，甚至面部表情都有其独特的方式。在每个人的一举一动都被记录并保存为虚拟数据的元宇宙时代，这些特征将像每个人的指纹一样，让用户揭示他们的真实身份。在以虚拟形象出现的虚拟世界中，一个人的真实身份无处可藏。如果这些数据的隐私性不能得到保证，却被一些商业巨头占据，

元宇宙的兴起将如何影响现实世界？这将是一个全新的社会学话题。技术不仅可以扩展人类表达和体验世界的能力，还可以限制和扭曲人类感知现实世界的能力。在虚拟世界中使用虚拟身份获得的经验当然具有教育意义，研究表明，当虚拟图像出现时，人们对自己的体验更加诚实和忠诚。当使用虚拟化身进行交流时，人们会感到心理上更安全，交流也更有效。对于那些害羞、内向、甚至身体有缺陷的人来说，分身更有可能让他们找到真正的自己……但另一方面，如果未来的人习惯于沉浸在一个虚幻的元宇宙世界中，

一些元界玩家表示，习惯了游戏世界后，在现实世界中不能随意闯入，或者毫无顾忌地跳出任何窗户，都感到非常不舒服。可想而知，虚拟世界制作得越逼真，其中的极端或虚拟场景，肯定会对人们在现实世界中的行为产生巨大的不利影响。人类社会的许多行为规范将在元宇宙中重新定义，但元宇宙更有可能成为现实世界中失意者的避难所。

一个人应该在多大程度上痴迷于元宇宙？元宇宙会在现实世界中造成更大的不平等，还是相反？人们沉迷于元宇宙，虽然可能会创造出许多新的职业和经济形式，但它对现实世界的反应目前似乎同样不可预测。如果元宇宙允许人们在虚拟世界中度过越来越多的工作和休闲时间，那么人们如何解决现实生活中的贫困、收入不平等、医疗困难和其他延续了数千年的慢性病？

可以想象，无论元宇宙发展到什么程度，这些问题都值得重复：人类的感官可以在多大程度上被替代或欺骗？全数字化是人类前进的方向吗？如果生活中的一切都可以数字化，那么生活本身的意义是什么？“实体互联网”会是互联网的终极形态吗？

无论是在扎克伯格的公开信中还是在他长达一小时的视频演讲中，他对虚拟世界的描述都有意或无意地混合了现实和未来。在充满计算机效果的视频中，他希望人们相信这将是虚拟世界中的居民所看到和感受到的，并且人们的感官将被虚拟世界中的电极和摄像头完美复制。现实与幻想、身体与灵魂之间的界限，在虚拟世界中将不再清晰。

互联网的先驱们热情地宣扬了元界大楼建成时将是多么的完美、创造性和人性化；另一方面，建造元界建筑所需的材料还远远没有准备好。更多的人还是在一旁观望，想知道，就算他们以后能住在元界府邸，又怎么会和原来的生活有什么不同呢？

元宇宙正在形成，互联网最终将再次被改变。站在另一个新时代的十字路口，我们可以想象，元宇宙能发展到什么程度，最终取决于人类对虚拟生活方式的接受程度。这些互联网行业的先行者想要创造的不仅仅是一个新的互联网，一个新的经济模式，一个新的社会形态。在元宇宙的梦想与现实之间，在虚与实之间，我们应该对未来充满信心和展望，同时保持冷静和谨慎的态度。