Web 1.0 was the electronic superhighway of the 1980s and ’90s. It was exciting, this new World Wide Web, that enabled computers and individuals to connect with each other and share information and knowledge. Large, centralized organizations like AOL and Yahoo provided the onramps and tools to navigate your way around this brave new world.

Web 2.0 came along at the turn of the century and provided companies with the ability to enhance and streamline operations, and sell products and services directly to consumers. Individuals like you and I went hog-wild blogging, gaming, surfing, and social networking. Web 2.0 has radically changed almost everything about the way we live today.

It is here today, but it’s like a toddler, just learning to walk and talk and feed itself. It may be the greatest disruption the world has ever seen, but nobody can agree on exactly what that disruption will look like. What they can agree on is that it will (with absolute certainty) make prior versions of the web appear as primitive as a slide rule.

Today, people and companies are dabbling in some of the new concepts the metaverse enables, such as decentralization, cryptocurrency, NFTs, blockchains, and virtual worlds. These are here to stay, but the rest of its future is as wide open as the universe.