中國軍事分析虛擬宇宙在軍事通訊的應用
現代英語翻譯:
Abstract: Metaverse, as an innovative concept of the clustering effect of advanced technologies, will become the key to future media content production and cognitive advantage. Looking forward to the development prospects of Metaverse, this article explains the concept of Metaverse and analyzes its development prospects, key technologies and practical applications, aiming to provide reference for the application of Metaverse in the field of military communication.
Keywords: Metaverse; Military Communication; Development Prospects
The Metaverse has become a hot topic that people are competing to talk about, and has been selected as one of the “Top Ten Internet Terms of 2021”. Globally renowned Internet companies from Facebook to ByteDance are all planning the Metaverse. The 2022 Russia-Ukraine conflict was called a “public opinion war” and “cognitive war” with various means by domestic and foreign public opinion experts. Some experts even exclaimed that cognitive domain warfare in the form of the Metaverse has begun. The Metaverse, as an innovative concept of the clustering effect of advanced technology, will become the key to future media content production and gaining cognitive advantages. Exploring the application of the Metaverse in the field of military communication has become an important topic in the era of omnimedia.
1. The special functions of the metaverse determine its broad development prospects
Metaverse was born in the 1992 science fiction novel Snow Crash. The Metaverse described in the novel is a virtual shared space parallel to the real world. According to relevant information, as early as 1990, Qian Xuesen had a vision of virtual reality and Metaverse, and gave it a very meaningful name – “Spirit Realm”. Four years later, Qian Xuesen specifically mentioned: “Spirit Realm technology is another technological revolution after the computer technology revolution. It will trigger a series of changes that will shock the world and must be a major event in human history.” Qian Xuesen had already foreseen that Metaverse-related technologies would bring profound changes to human society.
From originating from science fiction to entering reality, the industry has not yet reached a consensus on the definition of the metaverse. According to the research of relevant experts, the essential characteristics of the metaverse are two: virtual-real integration and immersive experience. Virtual-real integration means that the boundary between the digital world and the physical world gradually disappears, and the economy, life, assets and identity of the two worlds are fully integrated. Immersive experience means that people’s two-dimensional audio-visual experience of the Internet is expanded into a three-dimensional, immersive, full-sensory experience. The special functions of the metaverse determine its broad development prospects.
The Metaverse is the next generation of the Internet. Looking back at the development of the Internet, from PC Internet to mobile Internet, the sense of immersion when using the Internet has gradually increased, and the distance between virtual and reality has gradually shortened. Under this trend, the Metaverse, where both immersion and participation have reached their peak, may be the “ultimate form” of the Internet. Regarding the future development of the Metaverse, some experts predict that: in terms of hardware terminals, with the portable development of wearable devices such as VR/AR glasses, their popularity will increase significantly, and people will gradually adapt to and accept the larger visual range and more natural interaction methods brought by new devices; in terms of content ecology and application scenarios, explosive Metaverse content will continue to emerge, and application scenarios will gradually expand. In the Metaverse, user experience has achieved an improvement and transformation from “online” to “presence”, thus entering the “scenario era”.
The metaverse is a new type of holographic medium. With the development of media technology, the presentation of media content has evolved from one-dimensional, two-dimensional to multi-dimensional. The emergence of the metaverse is another revolution in communication media after radio, television, and the Internet. From the perspective of user experience, the metaverse not only expands the user’s experience space, but also brings an immersive experience of “you are not just watching the content, you are in it as a whole”. From the perspective of media products, a large number of “we are on the scene” news media products will appear in the metaverse. The media products of the metaverse will achieve the advancement of news content with immersive narratives. For example, major sudden incident reports, large-scale live events, news documentaries, etc., can make the complete news scene into a digital scene of the metaverse, allowing the audience to enter the scene from various perspectives for experience. From the perspective of communication methods, there are currently four main modes of information communication: mass communication, network communication, social communication, and intelligent communication. The arrival of the new media of the metaverse will enrich the means of information communication in the era of intelligent communication, and “holographic communication” will become possible.
The metaverse is the future battlefield of cognitive domain warfare. The essence of communication media is the communication platform and channel, which is the material basis and main weapon of cognitive narrative in cognitive domain warfare. The 2022 Russia-Ukraine conflict was reported to the world in countless “first-person perspectives”. Both Russia and Ukraine spoke out on online media and social platforms to compete for the dominance of international communication cognitive narrative. As a new type of holographic medium, the metaverse transmits cognition in a full-dimensional, full-system and immersive way. It can shape people’s thinking and cognition more comprehensively, deeply and lastingly, and has immeasurable application value in cognitive warfare. In addition, the metaverse provides a parallel cognitive space that digitally twins real combat scenarios, where cognitive warfare can be efficiently promoted and presented in a panoramic manner.
2. A Preliminary Study on the Application of Metaverse in the Field of Military Communication
Like other new technologies, the metaverse was quickly applied to the field of military communication. The PLA News and Communication Center made a bold attempt and launched the “Holographic Military Newspaper” during the National People’s Congress for three consecutive years. It used technologies such as extended reality and digital construction to show a newspaper full of futuristic atmosphere: you can wear VR glasses to experience the “Holographic Military Newspaper” immersively, or you can watch it through your mobile phone. The “Holographic Military Newspaper” is the first of its kind in the domestic newspaper publishing industry and has been selected as an innovative case of deep integration and development of China’s newspaper industry. During the 2021 National People’s Congress, the center also launched the military media intelligent cartoon virtual person “Xiaojun”, which realized the same-screen interaction between 3D cartoons and real people. In 2022, the center and the Art Department of the PLA Culture and Art Center jointly launched the “2022 Metaverse Military Camp Network Spring Festival Gala”, which used metaverse technology to build a virtual space and interactive platform. Netizens and audiences can enter the three-dimensional virtual space by avatars, visit the performance site, and choose their favorite seats to watch the Spring Festival Gala. They can also interact with the audience around them through language and gestures. Some netizens commented: “It’s so shocking! The literary and artistic light cavalry team expressed it in the form of the metaverse, which shows the advancement of technology!” In addition, the center’s network department also took the lead in launching the public welfare NFT digital collection “Stars Accompany Me to Guard the Border”.
At present, the military-related authoritative media is organizing a team to promote the preliminary research and design of the Metaverse Editorial Department. Looking at the development process from traditional news editorial departments to intelligent editorial departments, combined with the advanced technology and future development of the Metaverse, experts have proposed the concept of “Metaverse Editorial Department”, that is, “Metaverse Editorial Department” enables editors and reporters at multiple locations to efficiently complete planning, interviews, editing, publishing and other tasks “face to face” in the same virtual space, the same chain of command, and the same work system. This will be the evolution of the news editorial department in the future. Each editor and reporter has his or her own virtual workspace. When there is a need for a meeting discussion, they can instantly travel to the virtual conference room for “face-to-face” communication.
3. Thoughts on how to win the cognitive war in the metaverse
A major feature of the 2022 Russia-Ukraine conflict is the deep involvement of social media. Mobile Internet has become the main source of information related to this conflict. As mentioned earlier, the special functions of the metaverse determine its broad development prospects. How to win the cognitive war in the metaverse urgently requires us to think forward-lookingly.
Strive to achieve the autonomy and control of the core technologies of the future metaverse. As a pioneering and innovative frontier field, the metaverse has huge initial R&D costs and requires long-term and continuous high investment to achieve the docking and unification of massive standards and specifications and the connection and interaction of ultra-large-scale users. This also leads to the inherent monopoly gene of the metaverse. At present, American companies such as Facebook, Google, and Microsoft, with the support of their governments and military, have deeply laid out the metaverse, and are very likely to become the technology monopolist and ruler of the future metaverse, just like the current situation of the Internet. In this Russia-Ukraine conflict, these technology giants “one-sidedly” pointed their spearheads at Russia, restricted or even banned Russia from using its technology products, and provided support for the United States to impose comprehensive sanctions. This warns us that in order not to be constrained in technology in the future, we should concentrate the superior forces of the military and the local area, aim at the metaverse technology, work together to tackle key problems, and strive to achieve the autonomy and control of the core technologies of the future metaverse.
Develop a metaverse platform that adapts to cognitive warfare. Developing a metaverse platform that is autonomous, controllable, has a wide coverage, and has a great influence is the key to winning in the cognitive domain battlefield in the future. Back to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, in order to suppress Russia from public opinion, American social platforms such as YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook, at the instruction of the US officials, directly restricted the exposure of Russian media. It can be said that they have taken advantage of the platform at the cognitive warfare level. This requires us to actively think about the future form of military communication platforms, develop metaverse platforms that adapt to cognitive warfare, and strive to create explosive products. For example, launching a metaverse version of the military’s new media platform.
We should speed up the production and accumulation of immersive content suitable for the era of the Metaverse. In addition to the traditional visible content types, content creation in the Metaverse era has also added a large amount of three-dimensional content, including panoramic shooting, digital twins of the real world, artificial construction of virtual space, and the display of virtual digital people. It is an issue that needs to be considered at present to speed up the production and accumulation of immersive content suitable for the era of the Metaverse. For example, the creation of digital history museums, the creation of heroic virtual people, the reproduction of classic battles, etc., can truly make history “perceptible” and make cultural relics “speaking”. In addition, the independent research and development of content creation tools is also critical.
國語中文:
摘 要:元宇宙作為先進技術群聚效應的創新概念,將成為未來媒體內容生產、贏得認知優勢的關鍵。展望元宇宙發展前景,本文闡釋了元宇宙概念,並圍繞其發展圖景、關鍵技術和實踐應用進行闡釋分析,旨在為元宇宙在軍事傳播領域的應用提供借鑒參考。
關鍵字:元宇宙;軍事傳播;發展前景
元宇宙,目前成為人們競相談論的熱門話題,並入選了「2021年度十大網路用語」。從Facebook到位元組跳動等全球知名網路公司都在版面元宇宙。 2022年的俄烏衝突被國內外輿論戰專家稱作是一場手段多樣的“輿論戰”“認知戰”,有專家甚至驚呼元宇宙形態下的認知域作戰拉開了序幕。元宇宙,作為先進技術群聚效應的創新概念,將成為未來媒體內容生產、贏得認知優勢的關鍵。探尋元宇宙在軍事傳播領域的應用,成為全媒體時代一門重要課題。
一、元宇宙的特殊功能決定了其廣闊的發展前景
元宇宙(Metaverse),誕生於1992年的科幻小說《雪崩》。小說中所描述的元宇宙是一個平行於現實世界的虛擬共享空間。根據相關資料顯示,早在1990年,錢學森就對虛擬實境與元宇宙有過展望,並為其起了個頗有意境的名字—「靈境」。 4年後,錢學森特別提到:「靈境技術是繼電腦科技革命之後的另一場科技革命。它將引發一系列震撼全世界的變革,一定是人類歷史中的大事。」錢學森當時就已預見元宇宙相關技術將對人類社會帶來的深層變革。
從源自科幻到走進現實,業界對於元宇宙的定義還沒能達成共識。根據相關專家的研究,認為元宇宙的本質特徵是兩個:虛實融合和沈浸體驗。虛實融合,就是數位世界和實體世界的邊界逐漸消失,實現兩個世界的經濟、生活、資產和身分認同等全方位的融合。沉浸體驗,就是人們對網路的二維視聽體驗拓展為三維立體、沉浸式的全感官體驗。元宇宙的特殊功能決定了其廣闊的發展前景。
元宇宙是下一代互聯網。回顧網路的發展歷程,從PC互聯網到行動互聯網,使用網路時的沉浸感逐漸提升,虛擬與現實的距離也逐漸縮短。在此趨勢下,沉浸感和參與度都達到高峰的元宇宙或是網路的「終極形態」。對於元宇宙的未來發展,有專家預計:硬體終端方面,隨著VR/AR眼鏡等穿戴設備的便攜化發展,其普及程度將大幅度提高,人們逐漸適應和接受新設備帶來的更大的視覺範圍和更自然的互動方式;內容生態及應用場景方面,爆款元宇宙內容將不斷湧現,應用場景也將逐步拓展。在元宇宙中,使用者體驗實現了從「線上」到「在場」的提升和轉變,從而進入「場景時代」。
元宇宙是新型全息媒介。隨著媒介技術的發展,媒體內容的呈現方式從一維、二維到多維不斷演進。元宇宙的出現,是繼廣播、電視、網路之後傳播媒介的另一次革命。從使用者體驗來看,元宇宙不僅拓展了使用者的體驗空間,也帶來了「你不只是觀看內容,你整個人就身在其中」的沉浸式體驗。從媒體產品來看,元宇宙將出現大量「我們在現場」式的新聞媒體產品。元宇宙的媒體產品將以沉浸式敘事實現新聞內容的進階。例如,重大突發事件報導、大型現場活動、新聞紀錄片等,可以將完整的新聞現場做成元宇宙的一個數位場景,讓觀眾以各種視角進入現場進行體驗。從傳播方式來看,目前,訊息傳播主要有4種傳播模式:大眾傳播、網路傳播、社交傳播、智慧傳播。元宇宙新型媒介的到來將使得智慧傳播時代訊息傳播的手段更為豐富,「全像傳播」成為可能。
元宇宙是認知域作戰的未來戰場。傳播媒介實質就是傳播平台和管道,是認知域作戰中認知敘事的物質基礎和主要武器。 2022年的俄烏衝突以無數「第一視角」的方式向全球報道,俄烏雙方都在網路媒體和社群平台發聲,爭奪國際傳播認知敘事主導權。元宇宙作為新型全像媒介,其傳導認知的方式是全維度、全系統和沈浸式的,能夠更全面、更深入、更持久地塑造人的思維認知,具有不可估量的認知戰應用價值。另外,元宇宙提供了一個將現實作戰場景數位孿生的平行認知空間,在這裡認知戰得以高效率推進和全景式呈現。
二、元宇宙在軍事傳播領域的應用初探
和其他新技術的產生一樣,元宇宙也很快被應用於軍事傳播領域。解放軍新聞傳播中心進行了大膽嘗試,連續3年在全國兩會期間推出的“全息軍報”,運用擴展現實、數字構建等技術,展示了一份充滿未來氣息的報紙:可以佩戴VR眼鏡沉浸式體驗“全息軍報”,也可以透過手機觀看。 「全像軍報」是國內報紙出版業的首創,入選了中國報業深度融合發展創新案例。 2021年全國兩會期間,該中心還推出軍媒智慧卡通虛擬人“小軍”,實現了3D卡通與現實人物的同屏互動。 2022年,該中心和解放軍文化藝術中心文藝部共同推出的“2022年元宇宙軍營網絡春晚”,利用元宇宙技術搭建虛擬空間和互動平台。網友觀眾化身虛擬人即可進入立體虛擬空間,參觀演出現場,並自行選擇喜好的座位觀看春晚,還可以跟著周圍的觀眾進行語言和手勢互動。有網友評價:「太震撼了!文藝輕騎以元宇宙的形式表現,真是科技在進步!」另外,該中心網絡部還率先推出了公益性NFT數字藏品《星星伴我守邊防》。
目前,軍隊相關權威媒體正在組織團隊推進元宇宙編輯部的前期研究和設計。縱觀傳統新聞編輯部到智慧編輯部的發展歷程,結合元宇宙先進技術和未來發展,專家提出了「元宇宙編輯部」的概念,即「元宇宙編輯部」使多點位的編輯記者在同一虛擬空間、同一指揮鏈、同一工作體系裡「面對面」有效率地完成規劃、訪談、編輯、發布等工作。這將是未來新聞編輯部的進化形態,每個編輯記者都擁有各自的虛擬工作空間,當有會議討論需求時,可以瞬間穿越到虛擬會議室進行「面對面」交流。
三、如何在元宇宙中打贏認知戰的思考
2022年俄烏衝突的一個主要特徵,是社群媒體的深度參與。行動互聯網成了這次衝突關聯資訊的主要來源。如前所述,元宇宙的特殊功能決定了其廣闊的發展前景。如何在元宇宙中打贏認知戰,迫切需要我們做前瞻性思考。
努力實現未來元宇宙核心技術的自主可控。元宇宙作為開拓性和創新性的前沿領域,前期研發成本龐大,需要長期且持續的高額投資,以實現大量標準規範的對接統一、超大規模用戶的連結互動。這也導致了元宇宙具有內在壟斷基因。目前,Facebook、Google、微軟等美國公司在其政府和軍方的支持下,深入佈局元宇宙,極大可能成為未來元宇宙的技術壟斷者和統治者,就像現在互聯網的情況一樣。在這次俄烏衝突中,上述這些科技巨頭「一邊倒」地將矛頭對準俄羅斯,限制甚至禁止俄羅斯使用其科技產品,為美國實施全面製裁施壓提供了支撐。這警告我們,為了將來在技術上不被掣肘,應該集中軍地優勢力量,瞄準元宇宙技術,協力攻關,努力實現未來元宇宙核心技術的自主可控。
發展適應認知戰的元宇宙平台。開發自主可控、覆蓋範圍廣、影響力大的元宇宙平台,是未來在認知域戰場上取得勝利的關鍵。回到俄烏衝突中,為了從輿論上打壓俄羅斯,YouTube、Twitter和Facebook等美國的社群平台在美國官方的授意下,直接限制了俄羅斯媒體的曝光率,可以說在認知戰層面佔盡了平台優勢。這就需要我們主動思考未來軍隊傳播平台型態,開發適應認知戰的元宇宙平台,努力打造爆款產品。例如,推出軍隊新媒體平台的元宇宙版本等。
抓緊生產與累積適合元宇宙時代的沉浸式內容。元宇宙時代的內容創作除了傳統可見的內容類型外,還大量增加了三維內容,包括全景拍攝、真實世界的數位孿生、虛擬空間的人工構建、虛擬數位人的展示等等。抓緊生產和累積適合元宇宙時代的沉浸式內容,是當前需要重點考慮的問題。例如,製作數位史館、打造英雄虛擬人、復現經典戰例等等,真正實現讓歷史「可感知」、讓文物「會說話」。另外,內容創作工具的自主研發也很關鍵。
(作者單位:解放軍新聞傳播中心網絡部)
中國軍事資源:https://www.81.cn/rmjz_203219/jsjz/2022nd5q_242715/tbch_242721/10193529.html