Regarding the "metaverse", every field wants to participate. A few days ago, at the "Future Science and Art Forum" held in Beijing, scientists and artists conducted a meta-universe dialogue to look forward to the future social ecology under the connection of the digital economy.
Contemporary art critic Gu Zhenqing said in his speech: "The new crown epidemic has prompted people's life scenes to shift from offline to online, and at the same time, with the development of Internet technology, big data, algorithms, 5G, artificial intelligence, blockchain and other technologies, a path of internalization that may change people's living environment will ferment in the technology circle in 2021, that is, the 'meta-universe'. This event invites scientists in the fields of life science, astronomy, computer science, and many contemporary artists to conduct cross-border dialogues on the symbiotic relationship between science and technology and people in the meta-cosmic landscape, hoping to stimulate the collision of scientific and artistic thinking. ”
Gu Zhenqing
Over the past year, concepts related to metacosms have been flooded in the media – metaversities, NFTs, blockchains, quantum computing, brain-computer interfaces, digital twins, virtual reality, mixed reality, were these concepts forcibly created or had their own logic?
Wang Hao, a young director of the Future Forum and a researcher at the Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, shared from the perspective of genetics and molecular biology: "My personal understanding is that the essence of life is information, and in the process of evolution, the genetic sequence information of different species and individuals is constantly selected and competed, and the sequence that is retained is the most able to survive and expand, which is the competition of chemical information. ”
To some extent, today's cultural information competition is very similar to the selection and competition of biological DNA sequences, except that the field of occurrence is in the human consciousness and cultural community, we receive explosive information content every day, some network hot words, literary works or ideas are transmitted to our brains in large quantities, and the most communicative information content will be retained. With the development of the digital information age, Wang Hao believes that it is natural for the social form to develop in the direction of "digital + virtual reality", "there is no doubt about the development trend of digitalization, but there are still many deficiencies in science and technology from the realization of the idealized 'metacosm', and it may take more than 10 years of exploration and development." The implementation of the "metaverse" that we are now talking about will be based on the maturity and collaboration of new technologies such as extended reality (XR), blockchain, cloud computing, and digital twins.
Regarding the construction of the "metaverse", Zhang Fan, a young scientist at the Future Forum and an associate professor of the Department of Astronomy of Beijing Normal University, believes that "the virtual world is not limited by the laws of physics in the real world, and the construction of the 'metacosm' can blossom. From the perspective of scientific and technological development, the concept of 'meta-universe' has opened up a vast ocean of digital technology, and there is still a lot of room for development in the future. ”
On how to create a "metacosm" at a technical level, Chen Shuyu, special research assistant at the Institute of Computing Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said: "There are two forms of digital content creation in the 'metacosm', the first is the traditional form, capturing the existing physical world objects, using a three-dimensional scanner, or artists building three-dimensional models by hand. The other is to create virtual digital content, creating content outside the real world, and the content created can be virtual characters or objects. The traditional form of digital reconstruction is more expensive, and we are currently exploring low-cost creation and reconstruction technologies, such as reconstructing digital virtual objects through video shooting, and building a bridge between reality and virtual world. ”
In defining the "metacosm", Fei Jun, a professor and doctoral supervisor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, said that he was recently inspired by a friend who believed that the real "metacosm" was the universe itself. He said that the "metacosm" we are discussing today may be just an intermediary for connecting human beings and cosmic energies to each other. At present, people pay more attention to the meaning of the surface of the "metacosm", such as life, socialization, office, consumption, etc. But we can also continue to dig deeper into the philosophical meaning of the "metacosm". If the correlation between life forms is constructed in terms of a "metacosm," then it can help us open up a more complete view of the universe, which is a very imaginative concept. The world of the future will be a pluralistic world, and the physical world, the digital world and the living world will together form a pluralistic, more complete cosmological outlook on life, which will profoundly affect our lives, ecology and life.
Zhang Fan
At the event, Gao Feng, an assistant professor and researcher at Peking University's School of Art, also said that his team is currently developing a "meta-universe" platform, but there are still many challenges in it. For the future application experience of the "meta-universe", Gao Feng believes that this is very worth looking forward to: "For example, we want to paint with Qi Baishi and drink wine with Li Bai, which is impossible to achieve in reality." Through the 'metaverse', you may be able to experience the feeling of 'crossing'. ”
Xue Lei, a visiting professor and artist at Chinese Min University, pointed out that the establishment of the "meta-universe" needs to be completed by multiple dimensions and various community circles, and it is impossible for a single enterprise to do so in a short period of time. At the same time, in the process of building a "metacosm", it is necessary to integrate regional regulations and culture. In addition, with reference to the current European theoretical research on the future city, the city has been defined by the new urban planning as the ubiquitous interactive field of capital by the new urban planning, and then redefined the way everyone behaves in the city, which will affect the metaverse social form in the imaginary world. Despite the decentralized nature of the "metaverse", community rules and core culture will still be difficult for ordinary people to participate in and decide.
Stills of "Ready Player One", the idea of "meta-universe" has frequently appeared in film and television dramas.
Science and art are two ways for human beings to creatively grasp the world, in the history of human development, scientific discoveries, methods and knowledge will often have an impact on art, and artistic means and methods will also have an impact on science through their application in science.
Miao Xiaochun, a professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, said: "The creativity of science and art is actually a different way to go, and we don't need to look at it separately. In his view, the creativity of artists stems from a strong curiosity about the world, and scientists are actually the same. Moreover, to some extent, the creativity of many scientists also stems from the responsibility for national interests and social responsibilities, which is a more shocking driving force. When talking about digital technology to give artistic creativity more possibilities, Miao Xiaochun said that digital technology has opened up a new world for artistic creation, in recent years, he has been trying to use 3D printing technology to make sculptures, and he is also very pleased to see that the development of digital technology has also inspired many scientists or scholars to join in artistic creation.