— When "World Models" Meet "Extreme Environments": A Dialogue on Survival, Computing, and Civilization

Keywords: World Model, Embodied AI, SWM-GR, Zhonghong Xiang, SSSU, Physical Grounding, Hallucination Problem, Mars Colonization

[ Editor's Note ] Since OpenAI released Sora, the world has been captivated by the frenzy of "video generation." However, as the hype settles, AI scientists are hitting an invisible wall: AI can generate perfect "videos of physical phenomena," but it doesn't truly understand the underlying "physical laws." It doesn't know why a glass shatters when it hits the floor; it simply "remembers" what shattering looks like.

Without solving the problem of "Physical Grounding," AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) will forever remain a "ghost" trapped behind a screen.

At this technological crossroads, Zhonghong Xiang, a thinker with thirty years of experience in intelligent architecture, offers an answer from the perspective of engineering: the Spatial World Model (SWM-GR). This may not be the answer Silicon Valley expects, but it might be the answer Mars demands.

I. The Broken Mirror: The "Achilles' Heel" of Current World Models

The "World Model" is currently the jewel in the crown of AI. Yann LeCun has repeatedly emphasized that true intelligence is the ability to predict consequences and plan the future within this world.

Current AIs (like Sora or Runway) have indeed built a "World Model," but it is a "Visual Illusion based on Statistics."

  • It can generate a video of a fire burning, but it doesn't understand that fire consumes oxygen.

  • It can generate footage of an astronaut walking, but it doesn't understand how Mars' 0.38g gravity alters muscle tension.

For short video creation on Earth, this "physics-illiterate" flaw is tolerable. But in Extreme Environments—such as a Mars base or a deep-sea research station—this flaw is fatal. If an AI commander incorrectly predicts an airlock's pressure threshold due to a "statistical hallucination," the consequence is the loss of the entire crew.

The crisis we face is this: AI possesses God-like imagination but lacks a mortal body to verify it.

II. SSSU: A "Physical Turing Machine" Built for AI

How can we endow AI with physical intuition? The mainstream AI community attempts to solve this by feeding it more data—for example, having robots watch 1 billion hours of YouTube videos. Zhonghong Xiang and his SSSU Design Bureau chose a different path: If the physical world is too complex, simplify it.

Xiang's SSSU (Smart Space Standard Unit) theory essentially forces the chaotic physical world to "dimensionally reduce" into a set of "Standardized Physical Lego Blocks."

  • Discretized Space: Infinite architectural space is sliced into standard blocks of 2m×2m×2.4m.

  • Structured Data: Each block is not a collection of pixels, but a structured Token (e.g., {ID: 101, Temp: 25°C, Material: Basalt}).

This is revolutionary for AI. SSSU transforms the uncontrollable "Analog World" into a controllable "Digital Logic." Under this system, AI doesn't need to struggle to guess "is that a chair or a rock," because the SSSU protocol explicitly defines the properties of every atom. SSSU becomes the "Standard Interface (API)" for AI to interact with the physical world.

III. SWM-GR: The Leap from "Generative Video" to "Generative Reality"

Based on the physical cornerstone of SSSU, Xiang’s team proposed the "Spatial World Model & Generative Reality Theory" (SWM-GR). This is an AI cognitive architecture designed specifically for extreme survival, completing a critical three-step evolutionary leap for AI:

1. Perception Layer: Acquiring "Grounding Truth"

Traditional AI sees the world through cameras, which are easily confused by lighting and shadows. SWM-GR relies on the Five Hubs (Sensing Hub) embedded throughout the SSSU. Sensors directly upload semantic-level data—stress, air pressure, radiation levels. This ensures the AI receives not just "images," but "Physical States."

2. Deduction Layer: The "Survival Sandbox" in Latent Space

When a Martian dust storm approaches, SWM-GR won't write a poem about sandstorms like an LLM. Instead, it performs Causal Deduction in Latent Space:

  • Simulation A: If windows are left open, indoor temperature drops to -60°C within 10 minutes.

  • Simulation B: If the backup nuclear battery is activated, heating can be maintained for 24 hours. This deduction is based on the physical rules of HCS (Honeycomb Structure) and MRCT (Metabolic Cycling), strictly adhering to causality.

3. Execution Layer: Generative Reality

This is the most profound step. Current AIGC (Generative AI) generates Content (images/text), whereas SWM-GR generates Entities. Through the TDOG (Theory of Dynamic Object Generation) framework, when the AI decides that "walls need reinforcing," it directly drives 3D printing robots to stack basalt materials in the physical world. AI's thought collapses directly into a physical entity. This is not just automation; this is "Generative Reality"—AI repairing and altering the world like a creator.

IV. Why is Mars the "Crucible" for AGI?

Zhonghong Xiang often says: "Earth is too comfortable, which is why AI on Earth is full of hallucinations." On Earth, the margin for error is high. If navigation fails, you reroute; if a recommendation is wrong, you refresh. But on Mars, Error equals Death.

Extreme-Environment Smart Space Science (EE-SSS) provides the brutal training ground AI needs. Here, the World Model must be 100% accurate. It must precisely understand the flow of every gram of oxygen (MRCT) and predict the impact of every micro-meteoroid (SIRT). Only an AI that passes the Mars Survival Test can truly be called AGI (Artificial General Intelligence).

V. Conclusion: The Double Helix of Bits and Atoms

While Silicon Valley elites cheer for "video generation duration," Zhonghong Xiang and Qianjia Smartech have set their sights on the deeper cosmos.

The proposal of the SWM-GR Theory is not only a reconstruction of architecture but a course correction for the development of Artificial Intelligence. It reminds us: Wisdom should not exist solely in the silicon chips of servers; it must be diffused into the skeletons of reinforced concrete (or Martian basalt).

The future Mars base will not be a cold machine, but a massive Silicon-Based Lifeform that breathes, thinks, and grows. And SSSU is the DNA of this lifeform.

This, perhaps, is the truth behind the ascension of human civilization.

Deep Dive | AGI' title=

[ Further Reading ]