Web3 – What is the Importance of Web3?
Imagine a new kind of internet where all the content you consume is more personalized to you than ever before and
truly understands everything you say, whether it be through text, voice, or other media.
One that lets you exercise complete privacy control over the information you share with others and permits you to make
money if you offer it to advertisers or use specific programs, and is unaffected by harsh third-party restrictions.
It makes sense to comprehend Web3 in light of its predecessors. The early Internet, also referred to as Web 1, was a collection
of connections and homepages that first appeared in the late 1990s. The websites were not very interactive. Apart fr
web3 react |
om reading stuff and
posting simple content for others to read, there wasn’t much else you could do.
Bitfury’s CEO, Brian Brooks, articulated it well in a speech to American audiences. “If people remember their original AOL
account, it was an ability to look in a curated “walled garden” at a set of content that was not interactive but was presented
to you on AOL, similar to how Time Magazine used to show you the articles they wanted you to see inside of their magazine, except
you could see it on a screen,” a congressman will say in December 2021.
Next was Web 2. In regard to a computer code that enables you to open and change files rather than merely see them, some people
refer to this as the “read/write” version of the internet.
People could produce their own content and publish it on blogs like Tumblr, online forums, and marketplaces like Craigslist using this version of the Internet.
Later, the introduction of social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram raised the bar for content sharing.
After some time, the general public learned how their personal information was being collected by IT companies and utilized
it to develop customized marketing campaigns and adverts. Facebook in particular has been under
fire numerous times for violating data privacy regulations, and in 2019 it was
fined $5 billion, the highest amount the Federal Trade Commission has ever imposed (FTC.)
Despite the fantastic free services that Web 2 has provided the world, many individuals are tired of the new
“walled gardens” that these large tech companies have established and want more control over their data and content.
Web3 can help with this. The third generation of web technologies is known as Web 3.0 (Web3).
The World Wide Web, commonly referred to as the web, serves as the basic building block of the internet by offering website and application services.
There isn’t a single, accepted definition of Web 3.0 because it is continually changing and being defined.
However, it is evident that Web 3.0 will heavily emphasize decentralized applications and utilize blockchain-based technology.
Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning will both be used in Web 3.0 to enable smarter, more adaptive applications.
The idea of a semantic web is another element that is included in the evolving definition of Web 3.0.
Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee is one of many who has pushed for semantic technology to be incorporated into the web.
The move from the first web, Web 1.0, to Web 2.0 took more than ten years, and it is anticipated that Web 3.0’s complete implementation and reshaping of the web will take just as long, if not longer.
It can be assumed that Web 3.0 will alter both how websites are created and how users interact with them if
the trend of change is traced from Web 1.0, a static information provider where people read websites but rarely interacted with
them, to Web 2.0, an interactive and social web enabling user collaboration.
The Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) standard governs the design and delivery of webpages with Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 technologies. With Web 3.0, HTML will still be a core layer, but how it relates to data sources and where those data sources are located may differ from past web generations.
In the Web 2.0 age, the majority of websites and almost all applications rely on some kind of centralized database to deliver data and support functionality.
With Web 3.0, applications and services employ a decentralized blockchain in place of a centralized database. The fundamental notion behind blockchain is that there is a type of distributed consensus rather than an arbitrary central authority.
In the blockchain and Web 3.0 communities, the idea of a decentralized autonomous organization is an emerging form of governance (DAO).
With a DAO, Web 3.0 technologies and communities offer a type of self-governance in an effort to
move away from centralized control over platform operations.
More so than with fiat money, Web 3.0 also functions fundamentally with cryptocurrencies.
The use of cryptocurrencies, which are all constructed and enabled on top of blockchain technology,
enables finance and the use of a decentralized form of payment throughout Web 3.0.
The IPv4 addressing space was extensively used to create both Web 1.0 and Web 2.0. There is a need for more
internet addresses in Web 3.0 as a result of the web’s tremendous growth over the years, which is what IPv6 offers.
The design of Web 3.0 may take into account ubiquitous characteristics, semantic web, and AI.
The rationale for employing AI is to give people faster access to more accurate data. An AI-powered website should be
able to sort through the data and present the information it believes a particular user will find useful.
Since the results are websites that users have voted on, social bookmarking as a search engine can produce better results than Google.
These outcomes, however, are equally subject to human manipulation.
AI might be used to distinguish between authentic and fake results, providing outcomes akin to social media and
social bookmarking but without negative feedback.
Virtual assistants, a component that is already becoming popular as an aspect integrated into a device or through third-party apps, will
also, be introduced by an artificially intelligent web.
The goal of the semantic web is to organize and store data in a way that can be used to teach a system what a given piece of information means.
In order to create and distribute better content, a website should be able to comprehend the words used in search queries in the same manner that humans would.
AI will be used in this system as well; the semantic web will teach the computer what the data means, and AI will then utilize the knowledge.
The following are a few crucial aspects of Web 3.0 that help define what the third generation of the web is expected to be all about:
Decentralized – Web 3.0 will be decentralized in contrast to the past two
generations of the web, which had heavily centralized governance and applications.
A distributed method without a centralized authority will enable applications and services.
Blockchain-based –The development of decentralized applications and
services is made possible by blockchain. In contrast to centralized
database infrastructure, blockchain uses a distributed way to disseminate
data and connections between services. In a decentralized environment,
blockchain can also offer an immutable ledger of transactions and activities,
assisting in the provision of verified authenticity.
Cryptocurrency-enabled – The use of cryptocurrencies, which primarily
replaces the use of fiat money, is a key component of Web 3.0 services.
autonomous and clever artificially. A key aspect of Web 3.0 is more automation overall, which will mostly be driven by AI.
The web’s first two generations were replaced by web 3.0. Tim
Berners-Lee created and described the first iteration of the web, often known as Web 1.0, in 1989.
Basic connectivity and access across static web pages were the focus of Web 1.0.
Up until about 2004, when Tim O’Reilly helped develop the phrase “Web 2.0, ” the first generation of the internet was in use.
Websites and applications that leverage user-generated content for end users are referred to as “Web 2.0.” Many websites today use
Web 2.0, primarily emphasizes user interaction and collaboration.
More universal network connectivity and communication methods are another key component of Web 2.0.
Web 1.0 | Web 2.0 | Web 3.0 |
Created in 1989 by Tim Berners-Lee | Term coined by Tim O’Reilly in 2004 | Modern usage with blockchain defined by Gavin Wood, co-founder of Ethereum, in 2014 |
Static website content | Dynamic content and user input | Semantic content that can benefit from AI |
Information delivery | Social networks | Metaverse worlds |
Centralized infrastructure | Cloud utility infrastructure that is still largely centralized | Decentralized, edge computing and peer-to-peer |
Relational database-driven content and application delivery | Blockchain-based distributed services |
Web 3.0 programs
With blockchain at its core, Web 3.0 makes it possible for an expanding range of new apps and services, such as the following:
NFT – Nonfungible Tokens (NFTs) are tokens that are individually unique and are kept in a blockchain with a cryptographic hash.
DeFi – Decentralized blockchain technology is being utilized as the foundation for decentralized finance (DeFi),
a new use case for Web 3.0 that allows for the provision of financial services beyond the constraints of a conventional
centralized banking infrastructure.
Cryptocurrency – A new universe of money that strives to be distinct from the traditional world of fiat cash
is being created through Web 3.0 apps like cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.
dApp – Decentralized applications (dApps) are programs that run programmatically and are logged in an immutable ledger.
They are built on top of the blockchain and use smart contracts to facilitate service delivery.
Chain crossing points – In the Web 3.0 age, there are numerous blockchains, and cross-chain bridges provide some kind of connectivity between them.
DAOs – AOs are poised to potentially take on the role of Web 3.0’s governing bodies, offering some structure and decentralized governance.
Web3 enables the spread of decentralized governance frameworks for formerly centralized products.
A joke, a work of art, someone’s social media posts, or even pass to one of Gary Vee’s seminars can all be tokenized.
The gaming sector is an excellent illustration of the paradigm change. Players complain nonstop about the glitches
that producers include in their preferred video game or how their favorite weapon’s balance has been thrown
off by the most recent patch.
Players can make investments in the game and cast their votes for how it should be run using Web3.
Virtual worlds are being created by large Web 2 companies like Meta and Ubisoft, which are also using Web 3.
By enabling players to become the immutable owners of the objects they accumulate, non-fungible
tokens (NFTs) will also significantly contribute to the transformation of the gaming industry.
Objections to Web3
Web3 technology is mostly criticized for falling short of its ideals. Blockchain network ownership is concentrated
in the hands of early adopters and venture capitalists rather than being evenly dispersed.
This topic has recently come to the fore because of a public Twitter argument between Block Inc. CEO Jack Dorsey and many venture capitalists over Web3.
The concept of “decentralization theater,” in which blockchain projects are decentralized in name but not in practice,
is at the core of the criticisms. Examples of decentralization theater include private blockchains, venture capital (VC)-backed ventures,
or decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols where a small number of people control hundreds of millions of dollars.
Additionally, there are obvious figureheads despite the community of protocols’ purported lack of leadership.
The co-founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin continues to wield enormous power over the network even though he is no longer
actively involved in its development, as noted by Izabella Kaminska, the outgoing editor of the FT blog Alphaville:
“Vitalik is a funny and contradictory phenomenon in his own right.
The Crypto Syllabus was informed by Kaminska that the man “operates as the spiritual leader of a de facto headless system while maintaining great weight and control over the headless system he established and oversees.
Within protocols for decentralized finance, things aren’t any better. Voter apathy is rampant, they frequently rely on
centralized infrastructure, and there is still a high barrier to entry for building them because building blockchains seems
to be esoteric wizardry only for the most skilled engineers. Web3 does, however, have a lot of potential despite its issues.
Daily users will decide whether it’s too utopian to put into effect.
The Difference between Web 1.0, Web 2.0, and Web 3.0
Web 1.0 | Web 2.0 | Web 3.0 |
Despite only providing limited information and little to no user interaction, it was the first and most reliable internet in the 1990s. | Because of developments in web technologies such as Javascript, HTML5, CSS3, etc., and Web 2.0 made the internet a lot more interactive. | Web 3.0 is the next break in the evolution of the Internet, allowing it to understand data in a human-like manner. |
Before, there was no such thing as user pages or just commenting on articles. | Social networks and user-generated content production have flourished because data can now be distributed and shared. | It will use AI technology, Machine Learning, and Blockchain to provide users with smart applications. |
Consumers struggled to locate valuable information in Online 1.0 since there were no algorithms to scan through websites. | Many web inventors, including the above-mentioned Jeffrey Zeldman, pioneered the set of technologies used in this internet era. | This will enable the intelligent creation and distribution of highly tailored content to every internet user. |