The relation between Metaverse and the real world is much more than numerical twins. They are two parallel but closely-related worlds. Perhaps because there is too much room for imagination but too little technical support, the Metaverse is more like an idealized idea than a practical model. Before we embark on this romantic journey, we need to calm down and focus on some realistic issues. Like the Internet, Metaverse is fundamentally a reflection of the real world, and it is by no means of a borderless, anarchic or non-institutional utopia, nor is it an area beyond law, so it will be closely supervised by national policies and industry rules. In addition, the diversity and complexity of Metaverse will result in more difficulties in regulation. Therefore, the service of Metaverse should be opened cautiously before the supervision technology and level can catch up.
The real world remains to be a shackle of the virtual world.
The first is the risk of computing power in data processing. The ability to calculate, store and manage massive data is the technological foundation of the intelligence era, and is the most difficult technical bottleneck to break through. The existing Internet interaction mode, as well as the application of artificial intelligence limited to special scenarios, has caused a great burden on the data processing capacity of organizations and enterprises. Virtual reality and artificial intelligence under the concept of "Metaverse" will undoubtedly bring a huge amount of computation, leading to concerns about the capacity of existing and even future data technology. In case of problems such as data crash, whether there will be a domino effect and whether collateral damage will be caused to all interaction units and related entities within Metaverse relies on reasonable design of technical framework, logic architecture and business links, in the context of the further strengthening of connectivity.
The second is the security risk of financial transactions. Blockchain, as one of the underlying technologies of Metaverse, is seen as an ideal model for financial services. Existing technology does not make Metaverse come true, nor is blockchain able to become a financial tool or technical support for Metaverse, despite theoretically the characteristics of blockchain, such as openness, autonomy, anonymity, decentralization and tamper-resistant information, indeed meet the demand of Metaverse concept in regard to trading activities. Thus, great attention should be paid to the speculative bubbles. In addition, there is no virtual currency with sufficient value stability, wide circulation or transaction security in the world for the time being, which makes Metaverse difficult to roll out large-scale global transaction activities in a short time.
The last is the risk of competing with the physical world. Although Metaverse is conceived as a parallel world that interacts with the real world, the reality is that users will inevitably face choices about how to invest their time, money and energy at a stage when the two are not yet highly integrated. As virtual reality and big data portraits improve, real-world consumer experiences will become boring, inefficient and expensive. Meanwhile, digital technology may attract more capital and talents owing to its high replicability and value-added ability. The "virtual and real" dualistic worlds in parallel that we had originally been looking forward to may evolve into a structure with a number of necessary physical products and services in the framework of a unitary virtual world.
Issued on January 20, 2022
Xie Tian, Industry Research Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University