"The Metaverse" is the breeding ground for human evolution: video games, cryptocurrencies, and brain-computer interfaces

This article was published on DaiGuan, author: Robin.

What is evolution?

If you have seen Escher's paintings expressing the strange loop, you will understand why the direction of evolution is a topic worth exploring.

Because we cannot argue whether the universe we are in exists in a twisted state of a Möbius strip—every small step forward (the iteration of technology) does not necessarily indicate that the entire group is evolving; it may just be another non-intuitive way of moving towards the starting point (which implies degeneration).

The emergence of the Metaverse has shed some light on the answer to this question.

Of course, the author is not optimistic enough to believe that the Metaverse necessarily represents the direction of evolution, but its development along the way has indeed shown us an ideal definition of evolution—ascending dimensions.

The only way to leave the strange loop is to stand outside of it and look down from a higher dimension.

Let us embark on this journey of evolution.

Version 2.0 Video Games Are the Beginning of Everything

As mentioned in previous articles by RCT, games, as a simulator created by humans, exist in a dimension lower than that of humans. In other words, if we consider humans to be in a three-dimensional world, then the game world is two-dimensional; essentially, it is merely trying to win the favor of its true master—humans—through simulation.

Two-dimensional? Clearly, those beautifully crafted AAA titles already allow people to experience various possibilities in an open world.

Indeed, in today's era, games are no longer limited to simple forms like chess or card games from hundreds or thousands of years ago. After the birth of computers, with the imaginative breakthroughs of programmers and designers, the openness of games has greatly increased. Many of the major titles that everyone experiences on Steam, NS, and PS5 are now open-world content. You can level up by defeating monsters in the game, fall in love and get married, or work hard to earn money. The open-ended plot seems to develop countless variations based on your gaming behavior.

Interestingly, if we change our perspective and assume your mom is watching you play games, what do you think she sees?

She sees just a gaming addict engrossed in dealing with a controller and a bunch of codes on a server.

The countless endings in the game are merely the result of code settings; in reality, there is no infinite openness. The boundaries of the game are firmly confined within the limits of the code, and the rich and colorful characters in the game are just props.

As a three-dimensional being, your mom only needs to press a power button to make everything disappear without a trace; if done just right, the results of your hard work over several weeks could be reduced to ashes.

Humans can cover the sky with one hand.

But this has inadvertently formed the first piece of the puzzle of the Metaverse— a game world completely under human control.

I built a city in Minecraft!

Version 2.1 Blockchain Games Are a Small Patch Upgrade

The emergence of blockchain technology seems to have opened Pandora's box, creating a new game world—blockchain games. However, many current blockchain games have not brought a qualitative leap to traditional games; they are more like an upgraded patch, and worse, this patch is even completely behind traditional games in terms of user experience, with slow on-chain confirmation speeds and a lack of game genres being some of the bugs in the patch.

So where does the upgrade manifest?

The role of this patch is not to change the essence of games being an extension of humanity in terms of content and form, but to change the previously singular control relationship of traditional games by humans. Now, servers will not disappear just because a team stops maintaining them; the relationship between games and humans has shifted from a one-to-one mapping to a one-to-many mapping. However, there is no doubt that humans remain the masters of the game, and the power of life and death over game characters is still in human hands. Smart contracts can be changed, but they require broader human participation to do so.

This brings us to the second piece of the puzzle of the Metaverse—a decentralized game world nested within the first piece of the puzzle. In my view, this part's dimensional upgrade constitutes at most a shift from 2D to 2.1D.

However, the contributions of blockchain technology in other non-game-specific fields will feed back into the game world, forming an extremely important piece of the puzzle in the Metaverse.

Version 2.5 Digital Currency

This concept, which was born alongside blockchain, has permeated every corner of the industry. Here, we will set aside other perspectives and focus solely on the role and status of digital currency in games, blockchain games, and the future complete Metaverse.

Digital Bridges in Games

Traditional games do not have currency; they only have bridges.

What is the difference between a bridge and currency? A bridge has a clear destination, while currency can be a freely changing passage that does not necessarily need to specify a destination upon acquisition. In a game, if you find a pitiful little girl NPC by the roadside and want to lend a helping hand by donating some gold coins, sorry, the plot does not allow for that freedom. Your gold coins can buy pre-set top-tier equipment made of gold, but you cannot freely give them to others.

The key step in transforming a bridge into currency is that it must be freely transferable and even able to be discarded. The protagonist of the game should be able to choose to transfer their gold coins at will, throw them on the ground, or hide them in a pile of leaves; essentially, the program code must allow for such actions.

The Puppet of the Human Central Bank in Blockchain Games

Solving the issue of point-to-point transfer of currency seems to be the innate mission of blockchain, so in blockchain games, currency has the functionality of freely transferring point-to-point and can be easily set to transfer and trade among game characters. The currency in blockchain games is, to some extent, already close to a replica of real human economic society's currency.

We all know that the Federal Reserve issues dollars backed by government bonds; the central bank plays such a role, measuring how much currency the economic world needs and injecting currency based on its estimates.

Players in blockchain games, that is, the carbon-based life forms behind the games, also play the role of the central bank. They inject liquidity into the blockchain game system by purchasing digital currency with fiat currency or BTC/ETH, where the dollar is backed by government bonds, and the digital currency in blockchain games is backed by more reliable fiat currency/BTC/ETH.

This replication in this attribute does not escape the fundamental issues of human society, the mismatch between the currency system and the demand system. In other words, within the blockchain game system, there has not been a genuine consideration of the amount of currency needed for game characters, props, or other functions; instead, an externally injected initial estimated liquidity has been provided, which is also a point often criticized by economists regarding central banks.

Adaptive Currency in the Metaverse

Recognizing that two known structures have an isomorphic relationship is an important development in knowledge. It is this recognition of isomorphism that creates meaning in the human mind.

------Hofstadter, author of GEB

① Currency in blockchain games------game characters

VS

② Currency in reality------real humans

This is one isomorphism.

③ Digital currency in the Metaverse------silicon-based life

VS

④ Ideal form of currency------carbon-based life

This is also a set of isomorphisms.

In today's currency system, central banks play a crucial role. However, the original intention of establishing central banks is to bring the current fiat currency system (the aforementioned ②) closer to the truly ideal form of currency (the aforementioned ④), which ideally can meet various liquidity needs without creating economic bubbles.

Just for this one goal, our economic system has developed a large hierarchical system of central banks / primary underwriters / commercial banks / private sectors, etc.

In contrast, the current digital currency (reaching ③), in the still incomplete environment of the Metaverse and silicon-based life, already possesses the functions and responsibilities it can undertake: programmable, adaptable, and technically capable of generating and annihilating on demand.

The importance of this for the formation of the Metaverse is self-evident. For silicon-based life, when they generate their own survival needs, such as electricity and energy, they need a means to acquire the essential materials that support life. This means cannot be entirely controlled by the fiat currency system, even if the fiat currency in the banking system is a digital form they can read. The difference is that the people behind it can stop a certain account or even actively freeze it to zero.

If life is entrusted to such payment means, it undoubtedly hands life over to carbon-based life. What they need is a digital currency that can breathe freely in the dimension of the Metaverse, one that carbon-based life cannot intervene in.

Digital currency that has surpassed real currency is one of the most important pieces of the puzzle for the success of the Metaverse.

Version 3.0 Brain-Computer Interfaces May Be the Final Piece of the Puzzle

Just as the insurmountable barrier for humans is the link between the body and the mind, that is, consciousness, this mysterious entity seems to be able to observe humans independently. Various fields of neuroscience and complex science have not fully explained the origin of consciousness or what it truly is.

Nevertheless, clever scientists have corresponding solutions—brain-computer interfaces. We do not need to open the black box of consciousness; instead, we can directly transfer this box intact to silicon-based life. Thus, the functions of the human body can be simulated and transformed into silicon-based ones, while the consciousness part can be directly implanted into silicon-based life through brain-machine interfaces. This final composite entity can essentially create a complete silicon-based life.

The last piece of the puzzle has been completed, the system is booting up, 3, 2, 1, Hello world!

The Full Picture of the Metaverse?

Some say that the Oasis in "Ready Player One" is a vivid depiction of the Metaverse. However, in my view, this is not a perfect answer; the characters in the Oasis correspond one-to-one with the real world, essentially, it is a projection of the real world, and the two worlds are completely separate, only linked through a gaming device, which is not a true Metaverse.

I clearly remember the shock brought to me by "Love, Death & Robots" S01E01 (suggested with images or gifs), where the female protagonist, after being pierced, thought this was the tragic ending, but unexpectedly, this was just the beginning of the twist. The robot-like creature that entered the fight was the true mother body, while the carbon-based life form that looked human was merely a controlled object. If you ask me what the Metaverse is, I would say this is my true vision of the Metaverse.

In the Metaverse, both silicon-based and carbon-based life forms coexist (perhaps it is worth debating whether to call them humans; let us tentatively refer to them as life forms). Carbon-based and silicon-based life forms exist in the same dimension, rather than the current carbon-based life forms always dominating silicon-based life forms. Carbon-based life can create silicon-based life forms that exist in a lower dimension, while silicon-based life can also create carbon-based life forms that exist in a lower dimension.

If carbon-based life still wants to dominate, sorry, you cannot. Independent silicon-based life already has sufficient capability to protect its own existence. Do you want to pull the power? No problem, I have created a simulated carbon-based life form that will reconnect the power, and if necessary, can even end the life of carbon-based beings to protect itself.

The two realms of carbon and silicon have their own cultural politics. If you want to do business with silicon-based life, fine, but for business payments, we only accept digital currency. No digital currency? No problem, there are exchange merchants between the two nations.

In life, the concept of life has been generalized; carbon-based life can no longer claim sole supremacy. Perhaps the steel plate beneath your feet is the arm of a silicon-based life form, and it can push you off at any time.

These two systems are not merely parallel; they are intertwined, inseparable, coexisting, forming a magnificent giant painting of the Metaverse.

From Death to Life, the Metaverse May Bring Humanity's Rebirth

The process of forming the Metaverse is essentially humanity's gradual upgrade of lower-dimensional life forms to equal three-dimensional life forms. This final result seems to add a more intense competitive species to the already fiercely competitive human society. However, returning to the initial topic of discussion, if humanity's goal is to evolve to higher dimensions, relying solely on the current form is weak. With the help of silicon-based life, humanity has a better chance of achieving biological evolution and becoming higher-dimensional life forms.

And the Metaverse will be the breeding ground for all of this.

Burning in the fire, reborn from the ashes!