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With Alibaba launching what is expected to be the biggest technology IPO in history, much has been said of late about how the internet has changed the world. And it's true that it has created a parallel universe.
The other night I was having dinner with a young entrepreneur. Barely in his mid-20s, he has built a mobile advertising company that promotes apps across borders, generating significant profits for the company and huge net worth for himself.
All this in only a couple of years.
Over the dinner table, I had an epiphany: this young man is actually one of the masters of another universe - the parallel universe created by the internet.
People are transported to this new universe through "portals". These used to be at fixed locations, through a personal computer. Now, new generations of advanced mobile portals - smartphones - have been engineered.
Once transported, people's brains are immersed in this new universe, making them ignorant of what's happening in their old physical universe.
In the earlier agricultural and industrial revolutions, the basic laws and structures we use to define and guide our behaviour were still intact. These include the laws of Newtonian physics, the law of Darwinian evolution and the complex relationships and arrangements inherent in human society.
Newtonian physics deals with mass, speed and energy. To move anything around, you need energy. The heavier the mass, the more energy is required to make it move quickly. This simple law puts a constraint on how fast society can physically change.
The law of Darwinian evolution can be used to explain how individuals, groups and civilisations have evolved and survived by means of natural selection. We accumulate material wealth, seek sexual partners and form groups, all for the ultimate purpose of ensuring our genes survive for longer than those of our competitors.
Then there is the idea of man the social animal. Human beings form villages, cities and states. These social structures shape our social behaviour and, in the process, create barriers. To be successful as a social animal, we need to be able to navigate and master these social structures. And that takes time and experience.
Now, in this parallel universe called the internet, none of the above applies. Electrical signals move close to the speed of light. Objects, no matter large or small, can be created or destroyed with the press of a button. People, stripped of their physical characteristics, dwell in this universe not for the survival of their genes, but for the pure stimulation of their minds.
And old social structures do not matter.
If there are any laws in this new universe, they are the laws created by the new masters. They are usually young, but have spent more time in the internet universe than most. Each master can lay down his own laws in the digital nation he has created.
Facebook is one of the largest such nations, with Mark Zuckerberg its king. And the young man who sat across from me at the dinner table is aspiring to create another.
If there is any law shared by the two universes, it is probably related to time. No matter which universe you are in, the clock of life is ticking - for your brain and your physical body.
There are connectors between the two universes. They are businesses with e-commerce or online business models. These businesses pull in resources from the physical universe to complete transactions on the internet.
Through these connectors, the internet changes, disrupts and erodes the physical universe, much like a creature sucking the life out of a living body through its tentacles. Alibaba and Amazon are perfect examples, transforming and devouring the traditional retail industries with their rise.
The entities in the physical universe have no choice but to cooperate and transform. Resistance is futile. Those who don't cooperate risk extinction.
Will the two universes ever reach a state of equilibrium, when the laws of the physical universe assert themselves in the parallel internet realm? After all, the internet still has to rely on the physical universe as its foundation.
Or does it?
Will we be able to turn back before we reach the "Matrix moment": that is, the point when we get all we need from a simulated reality while our bodies are merely kept alive?
Nobody knows the answer. Before that, I will continue to bet on investing in the internet universe, while enjoying the profits in my physical universe.
Alibaba has kicked off its IPO roadshows, and investors from all over the world are scrambling to get a piece of the action. In a mere 15 years, Jack Ma Yun , the audacious entrepreneur from the scenic city of Hangzhou who's said to resemble the 1980s alien film icon ET, has built the largest internet empire in China, making himself the country's richest person.
Maybe he is not of this universe, after all. With this thought, I can finally find peace.
Sha Ye is managing director at Chengwei Capital


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Alibaba

With Alibaba set to make IPO history, does the internet now rule the world?

Maybe Jack Ma is not of this universe, after all. Photo: Bloomberg

Opinion

Sha Ye considers how successful tech firms and their creations are rewriting the laws of business


With Alibaba launching what is expected to be the biggest technology IPO in history, much has been said of late about how the internet has changed the world. And it's true that it has created a parallel universe.


With Alibaba set to make IPO history, does the internet now rule the world?

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Sha Ye considers how successful tech firms and their creations are rewriting the laws of business

Sha Ye considers how successful tech firms and their creations are rewriting the laws of business