# Web3 apps are really, *really* different By [fabians.eth](https://paragraph.com/@fabians) · 2021-10-06 --- [Chris Dixon](https://twitter.com/cdixon) wrote an excellent thread on Tokens as a new [“digital primitive”,](https://cdixon.mirror.xyz/0veLm9KKWae4T6_H3siLpKF933NSdC3F75jhPQw_qWE) outlining how they enable a new paradigm/era of the web. In this post, I’m trying to riff on his thinking, expanding a bit on how I think Web3 is really different to web 2.0, and what truly novel applications may already be conceivable today, both across “Multi-Player” and “Single Player” Crypto. First - let’s consider again how Web3 is different to what we’ve come to understand as web 2.0: If you zoom out far enough (but not too far!), web 2.0 and Web3 both still look like graphs: you'll see nodes (your Twitter handle, or a tweet, OR a to-do list) and edges (the act of liking a tweet, following someone, a message, the act of writing onto a To-Do list). There are at least 3 key differences that Web3 introduces to how these graphs work: 1. On web 2.0, nodes are centrally owned by companies (you may own the password to your Twitter account, but Twitter ultimately owns the account itself, along with every tweet). On Web3, [**all these nodes are belong to you**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQE66WA2s-A), making it possible to take them elsewhere. \\n 2. On web 2.0, edges (i. e. the links connecting nodes) carry pure information. On Web3, edges carry **both information and value**. On web 2.0, adding edges is "free", increasing quantity at the cost of quality - on Web3 adding edges is costly, potentially **increasing quality at the cost of quantity.** 3. On web 2.0, you outsource responsibility and processing to a company's tech stack and management - the latter will ultimately act in the company’s interest (which _may_ be aligned with yours, but not always). On Web3, you **outsource responsibility and processing to an emergent, decentralized, collectively-owned entity that _may act autonomously_**. Each of these has profound implications. While true crypto-native apps will naturally emerge around these paradigms, it’s an interesting exercise to translate traditional apps into the crypto-paradigm: **Multiplayer Crypto:** Again: in Web 2.0 Social Networks, edges carry information - in Web3 networks, edges carry value. This is probably considered the most massive paradigm shift, especially with the (re-)emergence of **DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations)**, which carry a revolutionary potential on par with the **invention of the corporation, and maybe the nation state?** [Balaji Srinivasan](https://balajis.com) outlines part of this vision aptly here: [![]({{DOMAIN}}/editor/youtube/play.png)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5UAtAOV66c) As humans, we are in fact already familiar with networks where nodes and edges carry economic value and are governed through a rule of law: today, nation states, churches and companies are the predominant form of organizing humans around a shared cause using links that go beyond casual communication (such as a Facebook group, or friends around a dinner table). **DAOs enable entirely new paradigms here for three reasons:** **First**, they make it several orders of magnitude easier to form economic collectives (think: the difference between sending postal mail vs email). **DAOs combine the ease of using social networks with the impact of economic cooperation.** **Secondly**, the Autonomous aspect of D**A**Os is computer-based, enabling an **automatic entaglement of rule and execution**. This will cause ([and has caused](https://ethereum.org/en/history/)!) a lot of headaches in the early days, but eventually allows a more powerful “offshoring” of trust, freeing up organizational cycles for more relevant purposes. Think board games where players are forced to do a lot of “accounting” in order to prevent even accidental cheating, vs games that provide a more natural flow (and are thus more fun to play!) There is an obvious and potentially dangerous path towards merging/enriching Smart Contracts with AI (effectively replacing human arbitration), but that one deserves a post on its own. **Thirdly**, the Decentralized nature of **D**AOs enables emancipation and independence from legacy organizations, as it’s much harder to just take them out by targeting a small number of individuals (such as a CEO) - a very curious challenge for both The State and traditional Corporations! Now, consider the following “trad-orgs” and their respective DAO version: * A **labor union** may outsource the initiation the organization of strikes to its DAO, making it much harder / impossible to simply bribe its leaders. You either compell the collective to cooperate, or it will strike. * We’ll see novel form of **Insurances** emerge through the use of DAOs, in some cases replacing the need for middlemen, in other cases coming up with forms of insurance that are completely new. * In the **Art Market,** [DAO collectives](https://pleasr.org/#) have emerged as new ways of funding an artist’s work in a model that’s similar to Patreon, but instead of being many-to-one these be many-to-many. * A **social network** that transforms into a DAO quickly becomes an **economic flashmob** that can rally its resources around a shared cause - this is obviously both scary and cool. Just consider replacing angry eyeballs and fist-shaking with millions of micro-contributions that have a real world impact… * We may see vastly more crypto projects choose to **“incorporate”** as DAOs, either in parallel to setting up a regular company, or exclusively so, which will beget tremendous insight and exercise into this novel form of human collaboration. * We will likely see novel forms of cooperatives/collectives emerge that sit somewhere between families and companies in our org stack, and are completely remote. **Single Player Crypto - the “Super Ego” Stack** It is admittedly a little unclear to me how much sense “single player” apps _technically_ make in a blockchain context, but “single player” still makes up a huge and sensible part of our technology stack today. Given this and assuming a crypto-maximalist future, I think it’s conceivable that we will see some type of single player crypto applications emerge. For example, if we consider that in Web3, **edges carry value,** that paradigm would enable a range of “Odysseus-style” apps that provide economic incentives for users to adhere to self-imposed goals - this category is basically about outsourcing your [super-ego](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Id,_ego_and_super-ego#Super-ego) to an external entity. * A ToDo-List, but you get to externalize control to a (single-player!) DAO that will assign a economic penalty to unfinished tasks. * Anti-Distraction software (like Freedom), but with economic penalties to disincentivize cheating on your super-ego. * Assume all financial transactions have moved to crypto, it’s **conceivable to lock your spending into a variety of smart self-contracts that align your long term goals against short term impulses.** In theory, all of this is possible with a traditional infrastructure, but who would want to outsource their super-ego to a _company_? A provably non-human, autonomous, crypto-enabled entity is a completely different partner here. I’d love to your hear your thoughts, for now: [on Twitter.](https://twitter.com/fabianstelzer) --- *Originally published on [fabians.eth](https://paragraph.com/@fabians/web3-apps-are-really-really-different)*