#BGM: Ludovico Enaudio — Experience

Write down this piece while listening to Experience by Ludovico Enaudio…

Berlin 2018

**Summary of what I learned so far about metaverse **(it might not be accurate, I am open to learn more):

1. Mark Zuckerburge’s PoV on metaverse: it is a virtual world which is three-dimensional, people enter such world to do anything they want through VR devices. The current virtual world we have is two-dimensional showing on the screens of PC, laptop, tablet, smartphone, smart watch, etc.
2. Shann Puri’s PoV of metaverse: metaverse is NOT about space, it is the singularity of time where AI is smarter than human. It might be difficult to understand. He might mean when people spend 90% of their time of a day in digital world, the time when we find/create more value in digital world than in actual world, it is metaverse.

I cannot comment on either of the above two PoVs.

As a person who worked in travel company which emphasises in-depth life experience, also as a person who started to work on VR travel content in 2015 and opened a 500 sqm virtual reality travel experience space in 2016, I have the following thoughts when thinking about metaverse:

Human and everything in nature are the perfect creation by God, including our spirit, soul and mind, our six senses, and everything which cannot be thoroughly changed or altered. As it is what it is, it is who we are.

Spending too much time in digital world, on the screens, on any devices, our sight becomes weaker, our health in crisis, our mind in trouble. It is undeniable that wearing VR goggle for more than 5 or 10 mins make you feel bad, either swelling pain in eyes or feeling dizzy. I don’t know how technology development is going to make us feel better, we still cannot change how we feel and how our body operates.

As said by a sci-fi writer Cixin Liu, “if human cannot stop being a phubber, metaverse is just an involution in the history of human civilisation. ”

One day I was talking to a close friend who is an entrepreneur of a Play-to-earn gaming company,

he said, “In future, everyone’s daily life will be online. People’s job is to play games in virtual world.”

“No no no, not everyone. Have you watched Free Guy? People’s basic living needs and real world, industry and market still exist without a question. There just might be a new dimension of world. Metaverse would never be capable to replace the physical world. There might be some “migration”, some people go to metaverse on daily basis, nevertheless their flesh body will be staying/trapped in their rooms.” I said.

“Yes, so, “Deliveroo or UberEats is the infrastructure of metaverse.” Said by him.

“Lol, we should write a standup comedy script about this.”

—

“I go into nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order. — — by John Burroughs”

When I saw this verse, I was in Chiangmai alone. (In my 20s, I threw myself into a lot of solo trips, got swallowed by vast loneliness or swimming in it.) And that day I went drifting with a bunch of travellers. That experience started from a peacefully flowing river in a rainforest. I will never forget, at the beginning of that drifting, I was sitting on the bamboo raft, surrounding by morning sunlights streaming down through leafs and trees and reflective lights from the shimmering ripples of the river. When I look up, I saw silver lining on each piece of leaves. No one is talking, I can even hear the breath of other people on the raft and the forest orchestra played by breeze, trees, river waters, birds…Closing my eyes, I feel a big cuddle from the nature. I was healed…all the tears and pain the other night just evaporated.

I would also never forget what my brother told me his two only tearing moments in his adult life. One was when he traveled in through a bamboo forest in Yangshuo and the other one was when he saw Lake Nam in Tibet…he was just touched by nature…

Recently I watched a friend’s vlog about her solo biking trip on an island. When she was riding through the autumn sun rays, she cannot help scream out “I am so so so happy!!!”…I can feel her happiness bursting through the screen.

I often thought of the moment when I walked out a hotel in New Zealand, the feeling of 100% pure air, pure blue, and that purity has been stored deeply in my soul.

Metaverse is full of commercial opportunities. It is getting viral is because the name of it, it sounds novelty. And it is arriving…Our generation has witnessed the information technology revolution, and it is still ongoing, evolving beyond our imagination. We need to understand it with rationality that it is a tool and a scenario invented by human. Just like we need to get to know ourselves better and get to know the world, the universe and the earth better, and to know what are the most important things to us. The real human connection, an eye contact, a hug, an in-depth conversation, a smile from a stranger, a beautiful acquaintance, and the real connection between nature and human, could never be replaced, as it is invaluable.

I wish you and me both are able to keep the balance between physical world and digital world, and sometimes do digital-detox, sometimes unplug, sometimes look up to the night sky and know how small we are.

Last but not least, I want to go traveling again, but hope not alone.

“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” — — Romans 1:20

— —

听着Ludovico Enaudio的Experience感情曲来写这篇文章再适合不过了。

先说说目前关于元宇宙的解说，归总为如下几点：

1. #扎克伯格等人通过各种视频传递出的一个观点：元宇宙即虚拟世界，人们通过VR/AR设备进入到另一个虚构的世界里从事各样的活动、工作、社交等等。现在我们只能通过电脑屏幕、平板设备、智能手机的屏幕去用眼睛看到一个二维的虚拟世界 — — 互联网，马上我们就能通过VR/AR设备进入到一个三位立体的互联世界。
2. 另一个推特网红和硅谷创业家#ShaanPuri说元宇宙不是关于空间，元宇宙是是一个“时间”上的“奇点”singularity。这个可能有点能理解。他的意思是当人的一天24小时90%都在数字世界时（譬如现在你还需掏出手机，拿出电脑才能进入数字世界，未来可能你的眼睛镜片就是一个屏幕，随时带你进入数字世界），当人们在数字世界上能比在物理世界里更有价值时，甚至当人工智能超过真正人的智能时，就是元宇宙。

作为一个在体验式旅行公司深度工作N年之久，超级重视人的深度体验，尤其在地球世界的体验。同时也作为早在2015年就开始做旅行VR内容，帮之前公司开了国内第一家也是最大的一家VR体验馆的我想分享一些自己对元宇宙的想法：

1. 人以及这个大自然里的一切是上帝最完美的创造，我们的灵魂思想，我们的six senses六种不同的感官，是无法被任何一种事物改变的，因为这才是我们本来的样子。常常上网时间太长，手机使用太长时间，我们不仅视力变差，身体变差，情绪也变差。须不知，长时间佩戴VR眼镜也是非常难受的事情。曾经我们开的VR体验馆里每个体验者规定带VR眼镜的时间不能超过3–4分钟。很多人也会表示带久了VR眼镜会头晕。更别提，如果离你的眼球最近的眼镜镜片变为屏幕，你的视觉体验是否会更好？你是否不会头晕？尽管科技产品再革新发展，人的感觉方式，身体的运行方式，是无法被改变的。

用之前看到的一句话，加#刘慈欣 说过的一句话，总结来说就是：如果人类不走出#低头，（我理解为人类如果不走出对任何一种屏幕的依赖），元宇宙就是人类文明史上的一次内卷。

1. 分享某天和一个在元宇宙游戏领域创业的男闺蜜的聊天 — — 他说：”未来元宇宙，大家的工作都在线上。大家的工作就是在虚拟世界里玩游戏。“我说：”不不不，不是所有人，你看过《Free Guy失控玩家》吗？人的基本生存需求和实际社会的运作市场产业还是依然存在，只是会多这么一个新的维度。元宇宙永远无法替代physical world。一部分的确会转移，然后天天去另一个世界而已。只是他们的肉体会一直被困在他们的房间里。“ 他说：”是的，所以，#美团外卖 是元宇宙人类的基础设施。“我说：”哈哈哈，我们去写个段子吧！”
2. 借用一句诗“I go into nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.我走进大自然，得以平静与治愈，得以理顺我的五感六觉。 — — by John Burroughs” 。当时看到这句诗时，我在#清迈旅行，刚好去了一个漂流点，那次的漂流体验从一个热带雨林里在平静流淌的河开始，在漂流的前半段，我永远都记得：清晨的阳光洒下在清澈的河面上，波光粼粼唤起的涟漪，树叶的轮廓好像都镶了银边，耳边没人说话，连同船人的呼吸人我都听不见，只能听见树叶的婆娑，水流的滴答，雨林里的鸟儿歌唱的声音，我闭上双眼，仿佛能闻到大自然给我的拥抱和安慰。所有过往的伤痛经历，以及前一晚上的嚎啕大哭经历都烟消云散。
3. 我也永远记得，我的哥哥十几年前去阳朔旅行，他说他真在漓江坐竹筏时，看着翠绿的江水，两边的竹林，眼泪就流下来了，他真的被大自然感动了。也记得他在西藏站在#纳木错 湖边上，眼泪也止不住的时刻。这是他人生长大成人后唯一两次哭泣瞬间。
4. 我也记得最近一友人独自去大理环洱海骑行，她给自己录了个视频，我还记得她当时一个骑在洱海边上，穿梭在秋日的阳光里，大声的呼喊：我好快乐啊！！！
5. 我也记得我自己在#新西兰的时候，清早走出房门，感受到那种无与伦比的纯净自然，那种沁人心脾的感受。

这一切的一切都告诉我，元宇宙充满了商业机会，它火，说因为它听起来玄乎，听起来新颖，它也一定会到来，我们这一代（八零九零后）经历信息科技革命，且这个革命还在进行中，以超乎人想象的速度在不断革新。理解它的同时，我们也要知道，它只是我们的一个工具，一个场景。这个宇宙都很大，地球也很大，好多地方都需要我们去探索，需要我们深度体验；我们也需要更好地#认识自己，了解对自己来说最重要的东西是什么，人与大自然的链接，人与人之间的真实连接 — — 亲情，友情，爱情，一个眼神，一个拥抱，一次促膝长谈，陌生人之间的一个微笑，一次偶尔的接触。。。。。是无价，无可替代的。

愿你我，能保持数字世界和物理世界的平衡。偶尔做digital detox，偶尔unplug…也能偶尔仰望星空银河，知道自己多渺小。

也期待疫情能快点过去，我们需要“旅行”！

“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” — — Romans 1:20

对了，不知道几年前，我突然有了个life mission，说来也有点奇妙，which is to bring nature back to human, bring human back to nature.