隔离与联结:从后疫情时代的情感结构看元宇宙

Isolation vs. Connection:Metaverse from the Perspective of Structure of Feeling in the Post-Pandemic Era

2021年末的元宇宙热,既是虚实交互技术发展的体现,也是后疫情时代情感结构的反映。元宇宙原本是美国科幻作家尼尔·斯蒂芬森在后赛博朋克小说《雪崩》中虚构的“数字乌托邦”,它与另一原创概念“化身”都具有基于“隔绝-互联”逻辑的悖论性特征。斯蒂芬森的赛博想象颠覆了赛博朋克小说的“恶托邦”基调,展现了技术乐观主义的变革性力量。在后疫情时代,这一具有建设性意义的乌托邦理念,被商界精英重新阐释为元宇宙构想,用以对抗“隔离-联结”悖论下普遍的恐惧和孤独。通过强调物理隔阂下的情感补偿,元宇宙的复兴者完成了前疫情时代到后疫情时代的叙事转换,也完成了“逃避式乌托邦”到“重建式乌托邦”的实践转换。然而,利用恐惧和孤独打造的乌托邦愿景,显示了对人性脆弱之处的把捉,在“情感经济”崛起的当下,尤应警惕温情表象下技术对人的全方位控制。

The metaverse fever at the end of 2021 reflects both the development of virtual reality technology and the structures of feeling in the post-pandemic era. Metaverse is a fictional digital utopia in Neal Stephenson’s post-cyberpunk novel Snow Crash, which, together with another original concept, “avatar, ” has a paradoxical characteristic. Stephenson’s cyber imagination deconstructs the cyberpunk dystopian narrative and demonstrates the transformative power of techno-optimism. In the post-pandemic era, the business elite reinterprets this constructive utopian concept as “metaverse” to counter the fear and loneliness in the paradox of “isolation-connection.” Emphasizing the emotional compensation despite physical barriers, the revivalists of metaverse have transformed an escapist utopia of the pre-pandemic era into a reconstructive utopia of the post-pandemic era. However, a utopia created through the lens of fear and loneliness shows the manipulation of human vulnerability. As the feeling economy rises, we should be wary of technological controls over people.