「元宇宙」一词是否弊大于利？Meta 首席技术官：这很模糊

　　自Facebook将自己更名为Meta，以宣布自己专注元宇宙领域的“决心”以来，已经过去了近两年的时间，而这件事的成功与否也越来越引起众人的注意——尤其是在竞争对手群雄逐鹿的情况之下。

Almost two years have passed since Facebook changed its name to Meta in order to declare its commitment to the realm of the meta-cosm, and the success of this event is drawing increasing attention — especially in the case of competition against deer.

　　Meta首席执行官Andrew Bosworth（Meta元宇宙开发部分Reality Labs的负责人）主持了一场“问我任何问题”，在会上，他通过Ins回答了公众的问题。

The Chief Executive Officer of Meta, Andrew Bosworth (the head of the Reality Labs section of the Meta Dollar Cosmos Development Section), presided over a “Question Me Any Questions”, at which he answered questions from the public through Ins.

　　从对Meta即将推出的Quest 3的众多疑问，到他的咖啡偏好（显然他不喝咖啡），但最关键的是一个相当沉重的问题：“‘元宇宙’一词弊大于利吗？”

From the many questions about Quest 3 that Meta is about to launch, to his coffee preferences (many of course he doesn't drink coffee), one of the most critical issues is the rather heavy question: “Does the word `won cosmos' do more harm than good?”

　　在Meta最近有点“接连受挫”的情况下，这个问题的回答无疑至关重要，Bosworth笑着向观众保证，这个词本身是没有任何问题的。

The answer to this question is undoubtedly crucial in the context of Meta's recent “consequential setback”, when Bosworth smiled to assure the audience that the word itself was unproblematic.

　　“它确实缺乏定义，因为我们还没有给出完整的定义，”Bosworth指出：“直到今天，互联网实际上仍然是很难定义的，尽管我们都知道它是什么——因为我们都在使用它们。”

“It does lack a definition, because we have not yet given a complete definition”, Bosworth said: “To this day, the Internet remains practically difficult to define, even though we all know what it is — because we are all using them”.

　　这指出了一个极其关键的问题，目前元宇宙概念模糊最大的问题之一就是它还不够普及，并且没有统一的行业准则。Bosworth将元宇宙定义的模糊性与20世纪90年代初人们在理解互联网时所经历的困惑进行了对比。

This points to a critical issue, one of the most ambiguous aspects of the meta-cosm concept at present is that it is not universal enough and that there is no uniform industry code. Bosworth contrasts the ambiguity in the definition of meta-cosm with the confusion that people experienced in understanding the Internet in the early 1990s.

　　Bosworth表示，元宇宙的问题在于，即使是研究它的人也对这个术语有不同的理解。不过，Bosworth补充道：“当你致力于开拓新技术时，这是很正常的事情。”

Bosworth says that the problem with the meta-cosmos is that even those who study it have different understandings of the term. But Bosworth adds, "It's normal when you're working on new technologies."

　　与此同时，Bosworth承认，Meta从来没想过它的品牌重塑——以及延伸出来的“Metaverse”一次会获得如此多的关注。

At the same time, Bosworth admits that Meta never thought that its brand remodeling -- and the extended “Metaverse” would receive so much attention at a time.

　　“我们担心人们根本不会注意到，”他说：“这确实超出了品牌重塑的目标。”

“We fear that people won't notice at all”, he said, “This is indeed beyond the goal of brand remodeling.”

　　就在一年多以前，公司内部人士表示，Meta首席执行官马克·扎克伯格除了元宇宙以外什么都不会谈论（尽管现在扎克伯格舆论并不占优势，但他确实对元宇宙爱的“深沉”），他正在为这项技术成为互联网的未来做好准备。但在投入数十亿美元之后，Meta的元宇宙计划还没有真正起飞。

Just over a year ago, insiders of the company said that McMeta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, would not talk about anything other than the meta-cosmos (though he does not now have a “deepness” in the love of the meta-cosmos), and that he was preparing the technology for the future of the Internet. But, after investing billions of dollars, Meta’s meta-cosm programme has not really taken off.

　　最近的消息指出，Reality Labs 被纳入 Meta 最近的裁员计划中，而扎克伯格似乎从此将重点转向了AI领域，而最近扎克伯格和马斯克的“风风雨雨”，似乎也正是因为AI领域的竞争而来——但这就是Meta需要面对的另一个战场了。

Recent news suggests that Reality Labs has been included in Meta's recent downsizing plan, and that Zuckerberg seems to have shifted his focus from this to the AI area, and that the recent “wind and rain” in Zuckerberg and Mask seem to have come precisely because of competition in the AI area — but this is another battle field that Meta needs to face.