The Ceiling of Civilization

The law of technological development

Perhaps you have ever thought about what is the process of the development of civilization? Sprout, grow like a tree, and eventually become a towering tree? Or is it just like picking up shellfish in a wild sea, purely by random luck?

In fact, it is more like climbing a tower of civilization. After each climb to a new layer (technological revolution), it takes hundreds or even tens of millions of years to explore and develop on this layer, and then stagnate. Until the opportunity appeared, a few wise men accidentally raised their heads and found the entrance to the upper floor.

Fortunately, over the past million years, we have been climbing upwards, and technology and civilization have also been advancing.

Unfortunately, we may have reached the very top of the Tower of Civilization.

The Illusion of the Tower of Civilization

Some people will say, no, technology is still progressing, and life will be better.

Indeed, with the fuller application of technology, the future of food may be more abundant, the environment may be cleaner, the working hours may be shorter...

However, within the same layer, no matter how the application of technology is deepened, the upper limit is fixed.

The Stone Age has developed for millions of years. Even if it were given millions of years, humans based on stone technology would not be able to build a rocket to fly to the moon. Similarly, we based on fossil energy, even if we develop further, until the sun goes out, we will not be able to leave the Milky Way.

If we don't continue to climb, although it seems that technology is still improving, as we approach the upper limit, the rate of development will become slower and slower.

Metaverse

Why hype the "metaverse"? Why put virtual reality, blockchain, cloud computing and other technologies together to give the virtual world a new name?

On the one hand, the capital market needs new concepts, and on the other hand, it is precisely because the development of modern technology has almost stagnated.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, with the breakthroughs in a series of basic sciences such as quantum mechanics, relativity, and genetic technology, the upper limit of human science and technology broke through to an unprecedented height. ability.

However, perhaps a few keen people have begun to realize that although new technological achievements are still emerging, from the perspective of technology as a whole, human civilization seems to have stagnated.

Where is the entrance to the upper tower? It is currently unknown.

A possible way of thinking is that since the progress of science and technology in reality is too slow, can we use the power of the virtual (digital) world? The biggest advantage of the virtual world is that its time flow rate (frequency) is different from that of the physical world, which allows calculations and experiments to be performed in the virtual world at a speed far exceeding that of the real world.

For example, after a thousand years of development and exploration in the virtual world, it may only be a year in the real world.

Opportunity or trap

So, is the Metaverse really the cure for technology? not necessarily.

Everything has two sides. The virtual world will be a brand new thing, and the current cognitive system will face great challenges. In the metaverse, everyone can be what you want to be and live the life you want.

Just like the world in The Matrix, at that time, how many people can still remember the original intention to return to reality? Will humanity as a whole sink completely and become a walking dead? That would be the biggest tragedy.

Future

There is a theory in astronomy: based on the conditions of a galaxy, the upper limit of the development of its civilization can be inferred. For example, a small galaxy with poor material is difficult to break through no matter how it develops. Innate conditions will lock the possibility of growth.

The solar system is running out of time for us.