A Study on the Deep Development of Universal Human Intercourse under the Revolution of New Quality Productive Forces

The universalization of intercourse is an objective requirement and inevitable result of the development of productive forces. The rapid development of natural science in the 19th century and its application promoted the integration of technologies, forming a system of large-scale machinery. Based on the productive forces of large-scale machinery, the capitalist mode of production pushed intercourse beyond regional restrictions, initially forming universal intercourse with world-historical significance. However, this universal intercourse was atomistic and contingent, possessing a superficial and external character. In the current era, the new scientific and technological revolution led by the digital technology system has driven a new qualitative leap in productive forces. The digital technology system and the revolution of new quality productive forces promote the formation of digital intercourse. Digital intercourse is a deep intercourse that transcends time, space, and trust; it is a free intercourse that can be conducted anytime, anywhere, and on the go; it is an autonomous intercourse in which individuals act as individual subjects. New quality productive forces promote the deep development of universal intercourse, manifested in the following aspects: on the one hand, the deep socialization of labor drives people to collaborate in real time through division of labor and cooperation. Various fields, industries, and enterprises of society, as well as various links and elements of the labor process, achieve technological integration and business integration on the basis of data integration, thereby making interpersonal intercourse increasingly close, to the point of resembling “one social labor force.” On the other hand, production and consumption are increasingly integrated, and intermediary links are continuously dissolved, thereby enabling universal intercourse to continuously shed its externality and superficiality and achieve deep integration and organic unity based on the totality of practice. The revolution of new quality productive forces drives a fundamental transformation in the mode of production, and this fundamental transformation in the mode of production pushes the trend of universalization and integration of human intercourse to extend infinitely in depth. The deep universalization of digital intercourse greatly enhances efficiency and promotes the development of productive forces; it greatly enhances human capabilities and promotes the all-round development of individuals; it promotes the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.

I. Scientific and Technological Progress, Development of Productive Forces, and the Formation of Universal Intercourse

Intercourse is the premise of production and also the foundation for the satisfaction of human needs. The development of productive forces and scientific and technological progress fundamentally determine the form of realization of intercourse. Based on the 19th-century scientific and technological revolution and the formation of the large-scale machinery system, the capitalist mode of production promoted the universalization of intercourse, but this was only the beginning of the formation of universal human intercourse.

(I) Intercourse and Human Existence and Development

What is intercourse? Synthesizing Marx and Engels’ definitions and uses of the concept of intercourse, in a broad sense, intercourse as a verb refers to the mutual interaction between people; intercourse as a noun is a gerund, referring to all connections and relations between people.

The emergence of intercourse originates from the objective needs of practice. Humans are born with instinctive desires and physiological needs. To survive, they must engage in the production of material goods. To produce, people must connect with each other and form social relations. Because in the face of nature, the power of any single individual is insignificant and unable to confront the powerful natural world, people must unite with each other, through intercourse, exchange information, and obtain information. On the basis of mastering all relevant information as much as possible, on the one hand, they produce through division of labor and cooperation; on the other hand, they satisfy needs through the mutual exchange of labor. Marx and Engels pointed out: “It is because of their needs—that is, their nature—and the way they seek to satisfy them, that they are connected with each other (sexual relations, exchange, division of labor), so they necessarily enter into mutual relations.” [1]1 The quotation is from Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, *The German Ideology* (1845-1846), where they discuss the historical transformation of intercourse (Verkehr) under conditions of communist revolution. Marx emphasized that people “can only produce by cooperating in a certain way and mutually exchanging their activities. In order to produce, they enter into definite connections and relations with one another, and only within these social connections and relations does their action on nature, does production, take place.” [2]2 This is a reference to the concept of a consensus mechanism in blockchain technology, which ensures that all nodes in a distributed network agree on a single version of the data. Marx and Engels indicate that it is precisely human needs, and the way people satisfy needs through social labor, that connect people—this connection includes sexual relations, exchange, and division of labor. “Sexual relations” are the most primitive and also the most natural form of interpersonal intercourse. What Marx and Engels emphasize are the social-historical relations between people, namely division of labor, cooperation, and the exchange of labor.

Therefore, the connections and relations between people—that is, their intercourse activities—include two

Thus, the social relations constituted by relations of intercourse, along with the various systems and norms established to maintain the stability and harmony of social relations, form communities and constitute society. Communities and society are not only the fundamental prerequisites and guarantees for people to satisfy their needs and realize their interests, but also the essential conditions and foundations for the enhancement of individual capacities and the achievement of comprehensive development. The enhancement of individual capacities is most fundamentally manifested in the appropriation of the totality of productive forces, which can only be realized through the universal intercourse of individuals. Marx points out: "These forces are only real forces in the intercourse and mutual interaction of these individuals." [3]3 This passage cites a Chinese scholarly work describing blockchain-based self-organizing systems as a new paradigm for labor collaboration. "Only in the community does the individual obtain the means of developing his capacities in all directions; that is, only in the community is personal freedom possible." [4]4 This is a reference to Marx and Engels' prediction in works such as *Anti-Dühring* that commodity production would be eliminated under communist social ownership of the means of production.

(II) Scientific and technological progress and the development of productive forces promote the universal development of intercourse

Intercourse is the precondition of production; how, then, does intercourse develop? Marx points out: "Production itself is again premised on the intercourse of individuals with one another. The form of this intercourse is again determined by production." [5]5 This is a paraphrase of Marx's argument in *Capital*, Volume 1, that under conditions of socialized production, individual labor becomes directly social labor. The form of intercourse and its development are determined by the mode of production; whatever the mode of production, so is the form of intercourse. And the mode of production is ultimately determined by the development of productive forces and by scientific and technological progress. Science and technology are the primary productive forces, the core elements that lead and drive the development of productive forces. The more society develops and civilization advances, the more this is the case. The development of productive forces and scientific and technological progress, on the one hand, profoundly transform humanity's modes of transportation and the media of intercourse, driving changes in the forms of intercourse; on the other hand, they promote the improvement and upgrading of the system of instruments, thereby fostering the refinement of the division of labor. The refinement of the division of labor simultaneously necessitates closer and more frequent cooperation, thus promoting increasingly close ties among people and fostering the ever-expanding, deepening, and enriching of relations of intercourse. Marx points out: "Only with this universal development of productive forces is a universal intercourse of men established." [6]6 Marx, *Grundrisse der Kritik der politischen Ökonomie* (1857–1858), in *Marx-Engels-Werke* (MEW), vol. 42, p. 396. The English translation is adapted from the standard edition. The scope and depth of human intercourse expand and deepen continuously with the development

The development of productive forces and the transformation of the mode of material production determine the transformation of the mode of intercourse. In ancient society, under conditions of a natural economy, the level of development of the productive forces was relatively low, and "the productive capacity of human beings occurred only within a narrow scope and at isolated locations." [7]7 Marx and Engels, *The German Ideology* (1845–1846), in *Marx-Engels-Werke* (MEW), vol. 3, p. 67. The English translation is adapted from the standard edition. The mode of production of the natural economy manifested as each household and individual producer being self-sufficient, with no need for extensive connections or relations with the outside world. Marx pointed out: "The small peasants form a vast mass, whose members live in similar conditions but without entering into manifold relations with one another. Their mode of production isolates them from one another instead of bringing them into mutual intercourse." [8]8 Xi Jinping, speech at the Second World Internet Conference, Wuzhen, December 16, 2015. Published in *People's Daily*, December 17, 2015. The narrowness and locality of production determined that intercourse among people was restricted by blood ties and geographical boundaries, and social relations exhibited characteristics of singularity, impoverishment, and locality.

Since modern times, science and technology have advanced by leaps and bounds, especially in the 18th and 19th centuries. Mature scientific theories were applied to production practice, driving technological breakthroughs and forming a large machine system powered by steam engines. On the one hand, based on the large machine system, humanity invented new means of transportation such as automobiles, trains, airplanes, and large steamships, enabling people's footprints of intercourse to reach across the globe and expanding the scope of intercourse. At the same time, with the application of electricity, the invention of the telegraph and telephone allowed the transmission and exchange of human information to break free from the constraints of time and space for the first time, entering an era of "instantaneity." Marx noted: "The telegraph has turned the whole of Europe into a stock exchange; the railway and steamship have multiplied communication and exchange a hundredfold." [1]1 The quotation is from Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, *The German Ideology* (1845-1846), where they discuss the historical transformation of intercourse (Verkehr) under conditions of communist revolution. Thus, the scientific and technological revolution led by the large machine system drove changes in the media of human intercourse, continuously breaking through geographical limitations and expanding intercourse to a global scale.

On the other hand, the large machine system promoted the formation and development of socialized labor, greatly expanding the breadth and depth of human

(III) The Limitations of Universal Intercourse under the Conditions of Large-Machine Productive Forces and Capitalist Private Ownership

In modern times, although the capitalist mode of production promoted the initial formation of universal human intercourse, under the conditions of traditional technology and private ownership, the universality of this intercourse manifested as external connections and superficial relations between atomized individuals.

First, within the enterprise, although the centralization and scaling of capitalist production promoted the aggregation of laborers and enhanced mutual connections, in the social sphere, production and consumption, as well as various enterprises, were mutually separated and opposed. It was difficult for people to truly unite and achieve large-scale socialized production coordination with internal unity, or to realize intrinsically integrated division of labor and cooperation. Therefore, it was difficult to promote the deep development of universal intercourse.

Second, relying on the power of capital and on commodities and money, although human production and consumption broke through narrow boundaries and isolated locations, establishing universal connections and relations among people for the first time, these universal connections and relations were established by relying on commodities and money rather than on people's own power. Human subjectivity and human capacity were alienated into the power of things, and the universal relations of intercourse among people manifested as the universal connections and relations of commodities and money. This determined that the relations of intercourse among people were external connections and superficial relations, rather than relations of internal unity and deep integration in intercourse activities. At the same time, merchants

Third, under the conditions of capitalist private ownership, productive forces manifest as something completely independent of and separated from each individual; the individual and the productive forces are separated from each other; the individual has no real power and is therefore an abstract individual. Marx points out: “The majority of individuals, confronted by these productive forces, are separated from them; therefore these individuals have lost all real life content and become abstract individuals, but precisely because of this, they are able to enter into relations with each other as individuals.”13 Although people achieve universal intercourse through the power of things

Massive big data is the foundation and prerequisite condition for the new quality productive forces revolution; big data has become a new type of important means of production that plays a key role. The formation of massive big data is realized in real time and on the spot based on the mobile Internet and the Internet of Things; the convenient and rapid use of massive big data is realized based on an intelligent network with blockchain as the underlying technological logic. The core of the new quality productive forces revolution lies in: on the basis of massive big data, artificial intelligence, by leveraging massive computing power to construct large models, proposes innovative content such as solutions and schemas for problems, greatly liberating human mental labor and improving efficiency. Human labor includes two internally connected and dialectically unified processes, namely mental labor and physical labor. Marx pointed out: “The worst architect differs from the best of bees from the very outset in that he builds the cell in his mind before he builds it in wax.” [1]1 The quotation is from Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, *The German Ideology* (1845-1846), where they discuss the historical transformation of intercourse (Verkehr) under conditions of communist revolution. Before people expend physical strength and use their hands to transform things, they must first conceptually transform things in their minds, that is, by means of concepts and language, based on all the information they have mastered, through calculation, analysis, imagination, etc., they construct in their minds the methods for implementing labor and design the plans, schemas, etc., for the results of labor — this is the process of mental labor. The human brain, constrained by physiological limitations, has limited capacity for storing information and limited ability to calculate, analyze, and process information, which affects the efficiency of mental labor. However, artificial intelligence machine learning, especially deep learning, based on the massive data information input, has computers analyze and process data, construct models and algorithms according to the problems to be solved, providing humans with infinitely rich solutions, schemas, and other materials or tools for solving problems, promoting the intellectualization of human conceptual construction, thereby greatly liberating human mental labor and also more profoundly improving the efficiency of physical labor.

The liberation of mental labor and the intellectualization of conceptual construction are realized on the basis of massive big data. Big data has become the core and key means of production in the new quality productive forces. The richer, more comprehensive, and more accurate the data, the more precise and valuable the models and algorithms constructed by artificial intelligence. Big data has the characteristic of shared value appreciation; the more it is shared and used, the more valuable it becomes. It is fundamentally different from traditional means of production such as land, labor, capital, and technology.

The objective need of the new quality productive forces for massive big data inherently requires that all enterprises, departments, and every link in the social labor process break down data barriers, remove unnecessary intermediaries, promote data integration, and promote technological integration and business integration. Consequently, the new quality productive forces promote changes in the mode of production, manifested in increasingly close and real-time collaboration in the division of labor in production, the disintermediation of the exchange process, and the deep development of the socialization of labor, thereby promoting a fundamental transformation of the mode of production. The fundamental transformation of the mode of production also fundamentally changes the mode of human intercourse, promoting the deep development of universal intercourse, transcending the principled and external nature of universal intercourse in the traditional technological era, and exhibiting characteristics such as deep integration and unity.

(II) The Digital Technology System Transforms Modes of Intercourse, Promoting the Formation of Digital Intercourse

The formation of the digital technology system promotes a fundamental change in the media of intercourse. The digitization, networking, and intellectualization of the forms of information expression, modes of transmission, methods of storage, and modes of generation promote a fundamental change in the mode of human intercourse. This fundamental change is manifested in the formation and development of digital intercourse, i.e., network intercourse — from the perspective of the form of expression of intercourse information, it is called “digital intercourse”; from the perspective of the mode of transmission of intercourse information, it is called “network intercourse.” Digital intercourse, i.e., network intercourse, is intercourse realized on the basis of the digital technology system. It is universal connection and universal intercourse realized by people using digital codes to express information, using digital intelligent networks to transmit and exchange information, using hard drives and the cloud to store information, and using cloud computing and artificial intelligence to generate information.

Digital intercourse is deep intercourse that transcends time, space, and trust. Although traditional communication devices such as the telegraph and telephone freed people’s

Digital communication is free communication that can take place anytime, anywhere, and on the go. Under traditional technological conditions, communication mediated by telephones and other mobile communication devices, while capable of achieving immediacy—allowing information from here and now to be instantly transmitted and exchanged with people elsewhere—still could not enable the real-time, on-site, and on-the-go interaction, exchange, and sharing of large amounts of unstructured data such as images, audio, and video. The scene where information was generated could not be presented instantly, on-site, and on-the-go to people in other places to the greatest extent possible, and people's communication anytime, anywhere, and on the go was subject to various technical limitations. In today's digital age, however, with the help of digital technology systems, especially new intelligent networks based on blockchain architecture, anyone anywhere in the world, at any time, and any individual can achieve extensive connection and deep communication anytime, anywhere, and on the go. They can freely transcend time, space, and people's psychological distance, and can engage in real-time free exchange and universal communication of text, images, audio, video, etc., across different time zones and locations.

Digital communication is autonomous communication in which the individual acts as a personal subject. The subjects of communication include individuals, organizations, interest groups, classes, nations, states, and so on. Communication between individuals is the most basic form of communication, because fundamentally, communication between various unit organizations, groups, classes, nations, states, and so on must ultimately be represented and realized through communication between individuals. Under traditional technological conditions, within the bureaucratic system, although the subject of communication appears on the surface to be the individual, this individual generally does not communicate as a person but rather communicates in the capacity of a unit organization, group, or class. This is because information is a form of power, held by superiors in the bureaucratic hierarchy, and can only be exchanged and shared by being transmitted layer by layer from superiors to subordinates. In contrast, today's intelligent network based on blockchain architecture has no central server. Individuals enter and exit freely according to their own needs. Every participant in the system possesses independence, equality, and autonomy. Every participant can freely connect with others, thereby forming a three-dimensional, intersecting, and universal internet, and participants collectively record information. Thus, information is no longer a form of power. Members of an organization with blockchain network as the underlying technical architecture share common goals, and to achieve these goals, they consciously co-create, co-build, co-govern, and co-manage, with the results shared by all members. The decentralized function of blockchain can establish the independent status of individual subjects in communication, thereby greatly promoting the universal realization of individuals participating in communication as subjects. Communication between individuals as persons is the manifestation and confirmation of the deep universalization of human communication. Marx pointed out: "The transformation of labor into self-activity corresponds to the transformation of the previously restricted intercourse into the intercourse of individuals as such." [16]

III. The Realization of the Deep Development of the Socialization of Labor and the Deep Development of Universal Communication Driven by New Quality Productive Forces

In the current era, digital technology systems lead the revolution in new quality productive forces, making big data a new type of means of production that plays a key role. As labor increasingly integrates with digital technology systems, the objective requirement for the co-construction, co-sharing, co-use, and co-management of big data resources drives the socialization of labor to develop infinitely in depth. The division of labor and cooperation become increasingly close, and production and consumption increasingly merge, thereby driving the infinite development of human universal communication in depth.

(I) In the Sphere of Production: Real-Time Coordination in the Division of Labor and Cooperation

Regarding production in a future society, Marx pointed out in *Capital*: “Let us finally imagine, for a change, an association of free men, working with the means of production held in common, and expending their many different forms of labour-power in full self-awareness as one single social labour force. All the characteristics of Robinson’s labour are repeated here, but with the difference that they are social, not individual.” [1]1 The quotation is from Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, *The German Ideology* (1845-1846), where they discuss the historical transformation of intercourse (Verkehr) under conditions of communist revolution. In future social production, the division of labour and cooperation among people would be as harmonious and close as the labour of a single individual. Under traditional technological conditions and capitalist private ownership, although the large-scale machine system and the capitalist mode of production gathered

Today, digital production does not require centralization but demands digitalization, networking, and intelligence. Consequently, on the one hand, artificial intelligence integrates into the production process, automatically optimizing production and enhancing the subjectivity of laborers. In particular, generative artificial intelligence, with its massive model parameters and pre-training data volumes, automatically analyzes, conducts precise predictions and simulations, and greatly enhances the creativity of laborers. On the other hand, through the transformation of enterprises toward digitalization, networking, and intelligence, people can collaborate in real time on intelligent networks based on blockchain architecture. Supported by the digital technology system, intelligent networks based on blockchain architecture can clarify data ownership, ensure that information cannot be tampered with and is fully traceable, and guarantee data ownership and privacy security, thereby fundamentally promoting the co-construction, sharing, co-use, and co-management of data resources across society, and achieving technological integration and business integration on the basis of data integration. At the same time, blockchain intelligent networks connect various production entities together through a consensus mechanism—the consensus mechanism "is a kind of collaboration mechanism that coordinates multiple nodes to accept a single result"[18]—ensuring data consistency among participating nodes, improving the efficiency of multi-party consensus among network participants, and thereby greatly enhancing the collaborative efficiency of intercourse among individuals as individuals, promoting the deep development of universal intercourse.

Currently, based on intelligent networks built on blockchain technology, communities of free collaborative cooperation among laborers are increasingly emerging. This is a decentralized self-organizing system fundamentally different from traditional hierarchical organizations, "an organizational structure and functional unit based on the operational logic of blockchain, capable of autonomous operation according to digital contract rules without external mandatory instructions. Under the self-organizing management model based on big data blockchain network technology, large-scale, cross-border distributed collaboration can be freely formed among various fields, industries, departments, and between individuals in society. Problems arising in the process of labor collaboration are jointly managed, negotiated, and resolved by the laborer collaboration community based on the intelligent network platform. This self-organizing, distributed collaboration based on the digital technology system is unprecedented, representing a completely new organizational model and collaboration paradigm opened up by humanity"[19]. Under this model or paradigm, the closeness of collaboration among people is akin to the labor of a single individual—just as Robinson Crusoe coordinates his own labor time and energy to meet his own needs—efficient, fast, and low-cost. Supported by the digital technology system, the intelligent network based on blockchain architecture creates unprecedented possibilities and conditions for the realization of social division of labor and collaboration akin to "a single social labor force," thereby fundamentally promoting the deep development of human universal intercourse.

(II) The Sphere of Exchange: Disintermediation, Increasing Integration of Production and Consumption

Regarding the satisfaction of human needs in a future society, Marx and Engels emphasized that "once society has taken possession of the means of production, commodity production will be eliminated"[20], and "the labor of each individual, regardless of its particular useful nature, directly becomes social labor from the outset"[21]. Under traditional technological conditions and under capitalist private ownership, the spheres of production and consumption are separated and fragmented from each other. The satisfaction of needs relies on commodities and money as intermediaries for realization. Commodity exchange must pass through multiple intermediaries such as wholesalers, distributors, retailers, and various distribution links before reaching consumers, wasting human labor, increasing the difficulty of trust, reducing the efficiency of intercourse, and alienating human relations into relations of things. In the current era, the digital technology system drives the revolution of new quality productive forces, fundamentally transforming the mode of exchange, removing unnecessary intermediary links, and promoting the increasing integration of production and consumption, thereby fundamentally improving the efficiency of human intercourse and promoting the deep development of universal intercourse.

Supported by the data technology system, intelligent networks based on blockchain architecture have a decentralization function, transforming information exchange from a hierarchical chain structure to a self-organizing network structure, constructing a real-time connection network between production and consumption, and promoting the integration of production and consumption. On the one hand, producers are increasingly able to grasp timely, accurately, and comprehensively the production and demand conditions of the entire society, as well as the individual needs of consumers, and carry out planned production and flexible production based on consumption. On the other hand, consumers are increasingly able to directly participate in the entire process of product design, management, creation, manufacturing, and sales, eliminating the opposition and separation between the two spheres of production and consumption. Thus, production and consumption are increasingly integrated, continuously dissolving the alienation of human relations caused by unnecessary intermediary links, and promoting the deep integrated development of intercourse activities.

Currently, with the continuous development of the revolution of new quality productive forces and the ongoing progress of the digital technology system, supported by massive big data information, people will freely unite based on new intelligent networks built on blockchain architecture, enabling people scattered in various places to gather and disperse anytime, anywhere, and at will. Thus, producers are simultaneously consumers, and consumers are simultaneously producers. Although the labor of people in producing use-values is infinitely diverse and varied, and although people still need to exchange their labor through commodities and money as intermediaries, under the conditions of the continuous advancement of the digital technology system and the revolution of new quality productive forces, the intermediary process of exchange activities will continuously diminish, the time required for individual labor to transform into social labor will continuously diminish, and the alienating and intermediary nature of intercourse among people will continuously diminish. With the continuous breakthroughs in key digital technologies, people will increasingly formulate plans according to social needs and carry out flexible production based on individual needs, thereby realizing the most extensive planned production of socialized human association. In this universal associated production, the universal intercourse of people will continuously shed its external and superficial character, becoming increasingly close and profound.

(III) Characteristics of the Deep Universalization of Digital Intercourse: Deep Integration, Organic Unity

Under traditional technological conditions and under capitalist private ownership, universal intercourse appears atomized and formalized, possessing externality and superficiality, because it is based on the isolation and separation of the process of labor division and collaboration, and on the intermediary and contingent nature of the process of exchange activities. In the current era, supported by the digital technology system and driven by the revolution of new quality productive forces, the real-time collaboration in the division of labor in production and the realization of disintermediation in consumption promote the deep integration and organic unity of human intercourse.

With the aid of the digital world (i.e., the online world), any scene, situation, or even very small detail in the real world can be simulated, predicted, occurred, and realized online. Therefore, although the online world is fundamentally different from the real world—a digital photograph is not the person themselves, a digital video is not the scene itself—with the help of the online world, people's practical activities in the real world have become unprecedentedly fast, precise, efficient, and profound, displaying an unprecedented trend toward integration, unification, and fusion. The deep development of the universalization of practical activities greatly promotes the deep development of universal human intercourse. Digital production, online office work, digital transportation, online education, online medical diagnosis, online shopping, digital public services, online entertainment, online creation, and so on—the intelligent network has opened up an unprecedented new world for human production and life. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "The internet has turned the world into a global village where 'the crowing of cocks and the barking of dogs can be heard,' and people separated by thousands of miles no longer 'keep aloof from each other without any contact.' It can be said that the world is more colorful because of the internet, and life is richer because of the internet." [6]6 Marx, *Grundrisse der Kritik der politischen Ökonomie* (1857–1858), in *Marx-Engels-Werke* (MEW), vol. 42, p. 396. The English translation is adapted from the standard edition. Thus, universal human intercourse is increasingly realized on the basis of the inherent unity of practical activities. It manifests as the real-time coordination of people's intercourse in practical activities by the intelligent network, as deep intercourse between subjects of intercourse based on the inherent unity of practical activities, and as organic integration based on the fusion of the smallest situations and most minute links in each process of labor and practice. At the same time, with the support of the digital technology system, the decentralized self-organizing system constructed with the blockchain-architected intelligent network as the underlying logic provides the material foundation and technical support for the universal realization of intercourse between individuals as individuals. In the digital self-organizing system, each person autonomously chooses their intercourse activities according to their own needs and consciously and voluntarily cooperates for common goals.

Thus, digital universal intercourse continuously breaks free from the limitations of atomized, formalized intercourse, manifesting as organically unified intercourse; it continuously breaks free from the limitations of one-sided, purely reified intercourse, manifesting as comprehensive intercourse with subjective individuality; and it therefore continuously breaks free from the superficiality and externality of universal intercourse, manifesting as comprehensive intercourse realized on the basis of the wholeness and organicity of practical activities. In short, digital universal intercourse continuously breaks free from the

IV. The Far-Reaching Significance of the Deep Development of Universal Intercourse Driven by New Quality Productive Forces

In a general sense, the deep development of universal intercourse driven by new quality productive forces greatly enhances efficiency, promotes a qualitative leap in the development of productive forces; improves individual capabilities, fosters the all-round development of human beings; and promotes the global unification of all people, advancing the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.

(1) Greatly Enhancing Efficiency

Social production can only be realized within the framework of social connections and social relations, and the efficiency of intercourse and connection among people is undoubtedly the internal driving force for the development of production. The revolution of new quality productive forces, led by the digital technology system, drives the deep development of universal human intercourse. Based on the digital technology system, the new type of intelligent network with blockchain architecture weaves all of people's production and daily life into an omnipresent and ubiquitous web of relations. Many things that originally required a fixed time and place to accomplish can now be easily completed through the network, thereby greatly saving time and space and improving the efficiency of intercourse. On the one hand, the deep development of universal intercourse greatly promotes real-time, on-site, and on-person cooperation across various fields, industries, and enterprises, achieving instantaneous coordination and promoting a unified, efficient, and swift production process. On the other hand, the deep development of universal intercourse eliminates all unnecessary intermediary links, promotes the integration of production and consumption, greatly improves the efficiency of meeting people's needs, and enhances the efficiency of the entire social life. In short, the deep development of universal intercourse improves the efficiency of human labor as a whole, raises the depth of the universalization of human practice, promotes the development of productive forces, creates more material wealth, and enables the satisfaction of human needs to be richer, more complete, and freer.

(2) Promoting the All-Round Development of Human Beings

Marx pointed out: "The all-roundness of the individual is not the all-roundness of imagination or conception, but the all-roundness of their actual relations and conceptual relations." [23] The all-roundness of human beings includes the all-roundness of human senses, the all-roundness of human needs, and the all-roundness of human capabilities, among other aspects, of which the most fundamental aspect is the all-round development of human capabilities. Human capability is the subjective force by which people satisfy their own needs and achieve liberation; it manifests as the individual's appropriation of the totality of productive forces and the exertion of the totality of their talents. Marx pointed out: "Individuals must appropriate the existing totality of productive forces, not only to realize their autonomous activity, but fundamentally also to ensure their own survival." [24] The all-round development of human capabilities, the individual's appropriation of the totality of productive forces, and the exertion of the totality of their talents can only be realized within universal and comprehensive social relations.

In the current era, the digital technology system and the revolution of new quality productive forces it leads provide unprecedented foundations and technical support for genuine universal connections and intercourse among people. With the support of the digital technology system, the intelligent network with blockchain as the underlying technological architecture enables people's intercourse to continuously transcend the traditional "small world" of intercourse realized through intermediaries; direct intercourse between strangers no longer requires an intermediary. As long as there is a need, global netizens, complete strangers unrelated to each other, can engage in direct intercourse anytime, anywhere, and on any device. The deep development of universal intercourse enables every individual to possess a three-dimensional, intersecting large-scale social network. This is a vast network connecting the past, present, and future, a network of world-historical social relations that condenses the wisdom and strength of all humanity. Situated within this universal network of relations, each person is also a node that weaves this universal network of relations. At the same time, by means of this universal network of relations, they realize the appropriation of the totality of productive forces, realize the exertion of the totality of their own talents, and, on the basis of satisfying their own multifaceted needs, achieve the all-round development of every individual.

(3) Promoting the Building of a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind

At present, the digital technology system leads the revolution of new productive forces, driving economic globalization into a new historical stage of development. At the same time, the current world is also facing unprecedented common problems and global crises. These problems and crises cannot be solved by relying on one country or a few countries; they require the joint efforts and unity of all countries and peoples of the world. Based on this background of the times, the Communist Party of China has put forward the task of the times to build a community with a shared future for mankind.

Based on the digital technology system, digital intercourse promotes the deep development of universal intercourse, making the world increasingly interconnected as a whole. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "The internet truly turns the world into a global village, making the international community increasingly a community of shared future where you have me and I have you." [25] The internet closely connects all countries and peoples of the world, making them a community of shared destiny where no one can do without anyone else. In the economic sphere, digitalized universal intercourse transcends the limitations of time, space, and trust, enabling people to communicate and interact anytime, anywhere, and on any device. It promotes the continuous generation of massive data resources, constantly eliminates data silos, promotes the universal exchange, sharing, and use of data resources, attracts more and more economies around the world to join the new economic integration process led and co-created by big data, attracts more and more countries and peoples to participate in the formation and development of global industrial chains, value chains, and supply chains, promotes the linking, cross-border collaboration, and co-creation of enterprises across countries, and promotes the interconnection of various economic fields and industries. On the basis of data integration, it achieves technological integration and business integration, making accidental and isolated production processes and production units increasingly impossible, thereby pushing the globalization of the world economy infinitely into depth and promoting the formation and development of a global economic community.

In the political and cultural sphere, digital universal intercourse promotes the concrete formation of the common values of all mankind—peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy, freedom, etc.—and establishes an objective value foundation and goal pursuit for building a community with a shared future for mankind. Building a community with a shared future for mankind is not only reflected in the economic sphere; it also requires the formation of a subject of all mankind with practical significance, a common institutional system and rule system to bind people’s actions together, and common value goals to unite the people of all countries around the world. On the one hand, the deep development of digital universal intercourse enables each individual to become a subject of intercourse based on new intelligent networks, promotes the formation of real universal individuals with world-historical significance, and thereby makes the subject of all mankind no longer a mere concept but a real “all mankind” subject with perceptual empirical content. On the other hand, digital universal intercourse promotes the concrete formation of the common values of all mankind. It is precisely in the universal intercourse of “all individuals” that the objective universality of the common values of all mankind—peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy, freedom—is concretely confirmed, thereby providing an objective value foundation and common value goals for the unity and cooperation of all countries and peoples in the world. This in turn establishes a common ideal and pursuit for building a community with a shared future for mankind, guiding all countries and peoples to unite and strive together.

V. Conclusion

Historical materialism emphasizes that science and technology are the primary productive forces, and that productive forces are the most revolutionary force. Because the deep integration of various digital technologies such as big data, the internet, blockchain, and artificial intelligence has only just begun, the revolution in new quality productive forces led by the digital technology system has only just begun, the changes to human modes of production and ways of life have only just begun, and the deep development of universal human intercourse has also only just begun. In particular, under current digital capitalist conditions, the nature of private ownership always seeks to profit by appropriating data resources, thus causing some difficulties and negative effects in actual production and life. However, this is not a result caused by the digital technology system itself, but a result of the incomplete digital technology system and the need for further deepening of digital technology integration, and even more a result of the fundamental contradiction between capitalist private ownership and the developmental requirements of new quality productive forces. As the core force of the current scientific and technological revolution and as the primary productive force, the digital technology system will not be permanently trapped by capitalism; it will inevitably open up a path for its own development.

Online editor: Zhang Jian