韩锋：刚到清华高研院入职，作为访问研究员。高研院是杨振宁先生办的，当初从高等研究中心那么过来的，我现在主要研究的方向是量子纠缠和时空拓扑，所以我保持一贯风格，我之所以入了区块链，包括现在元宇宙，都是基于量子力学的认知来认识这个事情的。

Han Feng: As a visiting research fellow, I joined the Institute for Advanced Study at Tsinghua University not long ago. The Institute for Advanced Study was founded by Chen-Ning Yang(Nobel Laureate). It used to be Tsinghua University Center for Advanced Study. My current research focuses on quantum entanglement and spatio-temporal topology, so I stick to my own academic style. I’ve started to study the blockchain and metaverse, because both of them are based on quantum mechanics.

要谈元宇宙的定义，实话实说不可能咱们今天就真的能下一个定义，大家都能接受。但是我只能谈谈我感觉，我个人的认知，包括为什么元宇宙一下这么火。

Speaking of the definition of metaverse, to be honest, it is impossible for us to nail down a definition that will be accepted by everyone. I can only talk about my personal feelings and cognition, as well as why metaverse becomes so popular now.

自打我2013年入圈以后，我就一直在用量子力学的认知解释比特币，包括区块链，也写了几本书，包括我最新的一本《区块链国富论》。但实话实说效果不是特别好，感觉有点牵强，虽然我自己心里头觉得不牵强，我觉得很自然，但是一般人听起来非把区块链、比特币跟量子力学扯一块，很多，包括币圈的老朋友，像吴刚、巨蟹他们都认为比较牵强，我们在群里也争论过。

Since I began to explore blockchain in 2013, I’ve been explaining bitcoin with my cognition of quantum mechanics. I’ve written several books on blockchain(In Chinese), including my latest book Blockchain and the Wealth of Nations. But to tell you the truth, the response is not very good. Although I think it’s quite natural to study blockchain and bitcoin based on quantum mechanics, many people, including some of my friends who study bitcoin such as Wu Gang and Ju Xie, thought it’s farfetched to correlate blockchain and bitcoin with quantum mechanics.

但是现在碰到元宇宙，我觉得这个逻辑我相信后面就好接受多了，因为原来用区块链解释这个事的确这个逻辑链条有点长，而且不那么直接，但是元宇宙我觉得很直接，元宇宙用量子力学认知再直接不过了。

However, when it comes to metaverse, this logic is much easier to accept. The logic chain used to explain blockchain with quantum mechanics is a bit long and not straightforward enough, but in the case of metaverse, the cognition of quantum mechanics cannot be more direct in interpreting metaverse.

我大概说一下这个认知，量子力学最简要地说，哪怕科普性的，大家最了解的概念，比如说平行宇宙、薛定谔猫，不管认知的是不是很准确、很科学，但是大概的意思量子力学带给我们一个全新的认知是没有问题的。量子力学就是多态叠加，多种存在的状态在量子力学可以是同时叠加在一起的，比如说猫死和猫活，因为在现实生活中你不可能同时看到要么猫死了，要么猫活了，但是在量子的世界中这种本来好像对立不相融的状态，就算叫平行世界吧，它是可以叠加到一块同时存在的，这已经被科学实验反复证明。

Let me put it briefly. In the simplest terms, people may not be able to accurately and scientifically understand some of the most common concepts such as the parallel universe and Schrodinger’s cat, but there is no doubt that quantum mechanics brings us a brand-new cognition. Quantum mechanics is actually polymorphic superposition. In quantum mechanics, a variety of states can be superposed at the same time. The life and death of a cat is a typical example. In real life, the cat never be alive or dead in the same time, but in the quantum mechanics, there is a parallel world where states that originally seem to be incompatible can coexist, such phenomenon have been proved by science many times.

这个事情表面上看跟我们人们的常识非常矛盾，一般觉得你除非闹鬼了，怎么可能死和活同时叠加呢，但是自打碰到元宇宙以后，我就突然想到了我过去在大学时候就听到庄子讲的一个故事，这个故事讲的非常优美，也很简单。庄周梦蝶，庄周有一天晚上梦到一只蝴蝶，这个当然是一般人都有的体验了，但是庄周伟大的是他梦到蝶以后，他起来就写了篇寓言，他就提出一个哲学上的思考，他说他醒了以后他就反应不过来了，究竟是庄周梦的蝶呢还是蝶梦的庄周呢？这是很著名的故事，据说弗洛伊德他们心理学都受这个很大的启发。

Figure 1 Butterfly dream of Chuang Tsu, painted by Fan Zheng

This seems to be contradictory to people’s common sense. Unless, the world is haunted, otherwise how can life and death exist at the same time? Nevertheless, when I started to study the metaverse, I suddenly thought of a story I heard in college. It is a beautiful and simple story about the butterfly dream of the philosopher Chuang Tzu. Chuang Tzu became a butterfly in his dream one night, which is of course an experience that most people will have. But the great part is that Chuang Tzu wrote a fable about this. He put forward a philosophical question-Chuang Tzu became a butterfly in his dream and the butterfly became Chuang Tzu at waking, which one is true? This is a well-known story. Freud was greatly inspired by this while developing his psychology.

这一下就突破了，这是典型的平行世界的认知，他把梦中的蝴蝶跟现实中所谓的做梦者庄周，本体论放在等价的地位，他不认为蝴蝶是纯粹虚幻的，只有庄周是实际存在的，这是我们一般人的认知。但是庄周，我觉得他很牛，甚至我认为他是元宇宙之祖，这个概念，他突破了这种认知，他认为你也可以认为就是蝴蝶在梦庄周，他们在本体论上是等价的。那么很自然的这就是一个平行世界了，如果我们这个世界只有一个，这个事就不用讨论了，肯定蝴蝶是虚幻的，是假的，但是如果有平行宇宙，蝴蝶也是一种存在，甚至在庄周的认知体系里不见得比现实的庄周本人会虚幻多少，他们俩在本体论上是等价的，这个认知是非常高的智慧。庄周在2000多年前，居然就有这样的对世界的认知的高度，那就太牛了。

This is a breakthrough. This is a typical cognition of the parallel world. The butterfly in Chuang Tzu’s dream is put in an equivalent position with Chuang Tzu, the dreamer. In the cognition of common people, the butterfly is purely illusory, and only Chuang Tzu actually exists. Chuang Tzu is so great that I think he can be regarded as the originator of metaverse. He dispelled the boundaries of cognition. Chuang Tzu considered himself ontologically equivalent to the butterfly. Naturally, there is a parallel world. If there is only one world, it is unnecessary to discuss this matter. The butterfly is definitely illusory. But if the parallel universe does exist, the butterfly is also a kind of being which is not more illusory than the real Chuang Tzu or the dreamer himself in the cognitive system of Chuang Tzu. They are ontologically equivalent, which is great wisdom. It’s awesome that Chuang Tzu developed such a high-level awareness of the world over 2,000 years ago.

我们说现在为什么元宇宙会火呢？原来可能庄周梦那个蝴蝶是存不下来的，可能梦一醒，但是现在所有的技术，VR、AR这些我不说了。让你梦中的，甚至将来脑电波这都可以存，蝴蝶是可以在数字世界活下来，而且作为存在继续生存的，这个事情在技术上首先是可以做到的，然后有个最根本的问题让区块链解决了，就是说我梦中的一个世界，或者说平行宇宙的一个世界，它是不是可以作为独立的经济运行呢？是不是在这个世界可以赚钱钱，创造财富呢？过去觉得不可能。但是有了区块链和比特币以后，可能了，为什么？数字的东西也可以有所有权了，明确的所有权，也可以完全按照经济的法则，自由市场的法则，甚至像智能合约都是实际上的自由经济，就是亚当斯密说的那个看不见的手，现在通过智能合约把它确定下来了，而且完全可以独立于你现实生活的这些中心化的所谓组织去运行，这是真正形成了一个平行世界，也就是庄周梦中的那个蝴蝶可以变成所有权明确的，比如说现在叫NFT，可以变成资产，也可以交易，也完全可以形成一个经济。而亦来云现在即将开发完成的去中心化第二代互联网，正是这个元宇宙平行世界的底层技术支撑，亦来云的生态一定会按照元宇宙这个逻辑发展起来。

Why is metaverse so popular now? The butterfly in Chuang Tzu’s dream might disappear when Chuang Tzu woke up. But now, the advanced VR and AR technologies are capable of saving what happen in your dreams and even your brain waves. Therefore, the butterfly can survive and continue to exist as a kind of being in the digital world. This is technologically feasible, and the blockchain solves the most fundamental problem. Can a world in my dream or a world in a parallel universe operate as an independent decentralized economy? Is it possible to make money and create wealth in this world? It was impossible in the past. But with blockchain and bitcoin, it is possible. Why? Digital things also have their ownership. With clear ownership, free economy, e.g. smart contract which is actually the invisible hand proposed by Adam Smith, can be carried out in accordance with the laws and regulations of the free market. Once determined by smart contracts, free economy can be run independently of the centralized organizations in real life, which forms a real parallel world. In other words, the butterfly in Chuang Tzu’s dream can become something with clear ownership, e.g. the non-fungible token (NFT), a tradable asset or an economy. The second-generation decentralized Internet that Elastos have been developing now is the underlying technical support of this Metaverse parallel world, and the ecology of Elastos will definitely develop in accordance with the logic of the Metaverse.

实际上比特币某种程度上就相当于一个蝴蝶，它资产化了，数字资产化了，而且比特币在平行世界里产生的财富现在已经看着势不可当，已经上万亿美金，而且继续。我跟李林都认为，它早晚会突破黄金，黄金是8万亿，绝对不是比特币财富共识的上限。也就是说在这样一个平行的世界里，原来在传统人们的认知里它可能是虚幻的，甚至不认为它真实存在的这么一个世界里，现在的技术又结合区块链是可以存在，而且真的像庄周寓言的，跟我们现实中存在的人是等价的，在认知论上是平等的，在经济运行上可以完全平行世界的独立这样运行，而且能创造财富价值，而且已经发生了，所以未来这个畅想空间就太大了。

As a matter of fact, the bitcoin is equivalent to a capitalized and digitized butterfly to some extent. Besides, the wealth generated by bitcoin in the parallel world is overwhelming now, reaching trillions of dollars and continuing to grow. Both Li Lin and I believe that the wealth created by bitcoin will exceed that of gold sooner or later. The total wealth generated by gold is 8 trillion dollars, which is definitely not the upper limit of bitcoin. To put it another way, influenced by traditional cognition, people may consider the bitcoin illusory in such a parallel world and they even think that it does not really exist. With the combination of current technology and blockchain, it is no longer impossible. As mentioned by Chuang Tzu in his fable, it is ontologically equivalent to the people who exist in real life. In terms of economic operation, the bitcoin can run independently and create wealth consensus in the parallel world, and it has already happened. Therefore, the bitcoin has a promising future.

我做一些结论，我认为未来人类文明的发展，尤其是星际文明应该主要以这种元宇宙的形式去发展，因为只有这样的数字化的蝴蝶可以光速将来在宇宙中交易，人是不行的，我认为马斯克非把人弄到火星移民，我觉得绝对是一个高熵的，而且是耗费巨大成本的一个做法，绝对不是近期可以实现的。但是人的意识上火星是完全可以的，而且可以光速就过去了，就不细说了，所以我认为元宇宙的确是人类文明下一个发展的阶段和未来，而且应该架构在量子力学的认知基础上。哲学上，庄周两千年前已经讲了一个非常完美的元宇宙故事。谢谢大家！

I’ve arrived at some conclusions. I think that the future development of human civilization, especially interstellar civilization, should be mainly based on the form of metaverse, because only the digitized butterfly can perform trading in the universe at the speed of light in the future, while human beings won’t be able to do that. I think that Musk’s attempt to help people immigrate to Mars is definitely a high-entropy and costly practice, which is certainly not something that can be achieved and imitated in the near future. However, the consciousness of human beings can reach Mars at the speed of light. I won’t go into details today. Hence, the metaverse, as the next stage and future of human civilization, should be based on the cognition of quantum mechanics. Philosophically, Chuang Tzu already told a perfect story about metaverse two thousand years ago. Thank you for your listening.