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.