The metaverse is essentially virtual space. We are no stranger to virtual spaces built by computers, networks, and algorithms. When the first electronic computer was born in 1946, virtual space appeared in its shadow. The Internet appeared at the turn of the century, so that each of us ordinary people know: virtual space is a vast world, where there is a lot of potential.

Today, virtual space has developed some new features, so much so that we want to give it a new name: metaverse. It's like the geological name for the epoch of the great explosion of species, the Cambrian. "The term "metaverse" comes from science fiction author Neal Stephenson's 1992 novel Snow Crash, in which there is a virtual space called the "metaverse. The metaverse in the novel is born out of the real world, but it is parallel to it, interacts with it and is always online.

The new era of virtual space named after "metaverse" has two new features.

The first is the rapid progress of perception technology, and the second is the breakthrough of blockchain technology.

Let's look at the first feature first. Perception technology transforms computer-generated content into a form that can be perceived by the human eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind, so that it can be received and understood by humans. Conversely, perceptual technology also enables the human will to be more easily conveyed to the computer through words, actions, expressions, and intentions. Advances in perception technology are gradually bridging the perceptual gap between the carbon-based creatures like humans and the silicon-based world.

The second feature is more important and essential. The successful application of blockchain technology has changed the paradigm of economic activities in the virtual space. Economic activity must unfold based on rules that are commonly recognized and observed by participants. In the traditional economic ecosystem, such rules need to be established and maintained by reputable institutions. However, with the support of blockchain technology, a group of ordinary people who do not know each other can build and manage a trusted ledger based on algorithms, thus providing the underlying logical basis for asset identification and asset transfer, on which all kinds of economic activities can be carried out.

It is foreseeable that the future metaverse project will form two major schools of thought. One school will emphasize the application of perception technology, and the other school will emphasize the change of economic models. The genre that emphasizes perception technology will use cool stunts as a selling point, while the genre that emphasizes changes in economic models will practice the Web 3.0 concept and return the project benefits and governance to users to a greater extent. Generally speaking, a metaverse project will have both, with some emphasis.

It is important to note that although the metaverse is a virtual space, it does not exist independently from the real world. People serve as a link between the metaverse and the real world. The main activity in the metaverse is virtual users, but each virtual user is associated with and controlled by a natural or legal person in the real world, or "real person" for short.

In other words, the virtual users of the metaverse are avatars of real people in the real world. Of course, a real person in the real world can have multiple avatars in the metaverse. It can be seen that the activities of virtual users in the metaverse are essentially the activities of real people in the real world. As a result, the current mainstream view is that the economic logic, ethical norms and legal system regarding real people in the real world should, in principle, be applied to virtual users in the metaverse, i.e., to the real people behind the virtual users.

How far away is the prosperity of the metaverse industry from us? Thirty-five years ago, China's first email was "Leap to the Great Wall, Go Global", and today, 35 years later, the Internet world has become deeply intertwined with our real world. This new era of virtual space, the metaverse, will evolve 10 times faster than the old world of the Internet from its inception to its prosperity. Accordingly, we may figuratively say that in the world, the metaverse industry will first emerge in three or four years.