Before this Labor Day, I happened to pass through Hong Kong and went for a morning hike to Lion Rock with a friend. Not far away was the calm harbor with clusters of modern buildings. Excavators were still roaring, as if they were still trying to keep up with the pace of the times. Centuries of construction have given rise to towering skyscrapers. From a colony to "one country, two systems", from a small fishing port to a Web3 Hub, from the Treaty of Nanjing to the Basic Law, and figures like Lu Laohu, Li Ka-shing, and Deng Xiaoping. A breeze blew by, and a few lines from Jin Yong came to mind: where there are grudges, there is a jianghu (underworld), and people are the jianghu.
Today, let's discuss the "superhuman" of the new era. It's an innovative and open term.
There are several terms associated with it. The most common is Superman, a Marvel hero in hero-centric novels. Then there's Transhuman, an advanced state between humans and post-humans, often realized through technology and biology, exceeding our current human abilities. And from Nietzsche's philosophy, there's Overhuman, individuals not defined by traditional identities and societal systems. They define their own moral values and compete freely in a "superhuman society". They differ from dictators in that they boldly deny themselves. This term was once manipulated by politicians. Or from a sociological perspective, there's Maslow's Transcendence level, representing individuals who have achieved self-transcendence.
Simply put, let's use "Superhuman 3" to represent this term. In English, we can call it "Human3 (H3)" to represent these new individuals. They emerge at the intersection of an era where energy production's marginal cost is extremely low, and collaborative relationships are maximized.
- From a technological perspective, H3 is an enhanced cyborg. They have enhanced physical abilities, cognitive skills, and intuition that transcends past distinctions between rationality and emotion. This might not only be a quantitative change but a qualitative one. With the extension of human lifespan and the reduction of repetitive tasks by machines, the opportunity to develop higher cognitive abilities increases. If we enter a knowledge-focused era, our cognitive abilities could be greatly enhanced.
- Economically, H3 directly monetizes or becomes monetized. In the future, decentralization and tokenization might capture the value of physical objects and human interactions. H3's capabilities might surpass past businessmen, scientists, and philosophers. Their value in the market might be vast and not restricted to traditional roles.
- From a governance perspective, Human3 (H3) is an advocate and guardian of the new consensus, assuming the role of building and maintaining the rules for public node collaboration. This is a major distinction between H3 and past autocrats. From day one, H3 is expected to possess a certain willingness and ability for public governance.
- Culturally, the competition among the Human3 community might bring about a new diversity, neutrality, and natural culture. H3 itself is a super-cultural medium, meaning their thoughts, actions, and ethical paradigms will greatly influence the direction of societal culture, both present and future. The diversified culture initially seems to coincide with cultural divisions and conflicts. If modernity is one characteristic of past cultures, then H3 introduces something distinctly different. Although hard to describe, it's clearly a manifestation of an era of immense information.
- Conceptually, a significant feature of H3 is that it breaks traditional constraints of the "time" concept. The concept of H3 decouples from the traditional notion of time. In many ways, H3 transcends time conceptually. They represent a new generation that can skillfully possess creative production capabilities, surpassing past definitions focused on efficiency. The concept itself, once introduced, has the potential for multidimensional evolution. H3 might transcend both rationality and emotion, even intuition, becoming part of a new high-dimensional concept.
H3 blurs the boundaries between humans and machines. The moment we started using computers, the internet, carrying mobile phones, and using tools like GPT, we began merging with machines. Whether it's integrating with machines, creating humanoid machines, or using them, H3's transformative capabilities unlock vast potential.
A shift towards a "personal economy" is inevitable. Every individual might act as a company, and smaller groups might function like DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations), applying nation-like economic models. The first beneficiaries of this change might not be those we expect. The introduction of Universal Basic Income (UBI) might become essential.
H3s will likely collaborate harmoniously and efficiently. They can quickly self-organize and engage in collaborative creation under a universally accepted language and incentive rules.
From the above, the traditional company system and intellectual property framework might be restricting this collaboration.
If we look at it from the perspective of order, it's naturally about the competition of various consensus principles. This kind of competition occurs under the supervision and participation of the community. Satoshi Nakamoto's principle of minimizing trust is a good direction, whether for traditional centralized entities or decentralized ones, human organizations or machine systems. If these consensus principles can be carried out in a more open, public, and community-involved manner, it naturally offers the community a more liberating approach.
Of course, it's hard to predict which consensus principles will prevail in the future. This is both an opportunity and a challenge for H3 in the new order. To some extent, regardless of whether H3 originates from traditional society, new tech fields, or a decentralized society, they naturally have to take on governance responsibilities. H3 acts as the custodian of public protocols, which has been empirically proven. Regardless of whether these public protocols are codified or not, be it a traditional national economy or a new decentralized coded economy, neglecting and despising governance often presents these leaders with disruptive opportunities.
From this perspective, H3 is inherently community-oriented, not only in terms of public governance capabilities but also measurable intent. An interesting term currently in DAO organizations is "Proof of Sacrifice". From our point of view, if there is a tangible and evaluable public assessment, it naturally increases the community's participation and freedom of choice in the future order of machines, human-machine interactions, and human order.
The interesting part is that our choices become richer, and the cost of cultural experimentation decreases. However, a downside is that the heightened discourse due to H3's media influence may amplify societal divisions and blur the lines between reality and fiction. Neutral and natural will also be new cultural features. As diverse cultures spread and H3's competition becomes more transparent, community cultures will become more open, and there will be a shift towards a neutral and natural cultural atmosphere.
Writing this, I often feel that living by the seaside on a small island has a perk: frequently being awakened by the lightning and thunder outside my window at night. Reminds me of Powder, who in the end, opened his arms to embrace the lightning. We might soon welcome our lightning moment, where in an instant, a brilliant star is created. Or perhaps, it's already silently shining.