first, before we dive into what web3 is to me let me give you a little information about me.
wrote my first piece of software when I was 14, a simple wardialer in AppleScript
I’ve looked up to Wozniak & Mitnick since I was in high school
I remove seeds from my weed with Regex
I remember the bitcoin whitepaper and ran a node
left blockchain tech when it became more finance bro than Anarchist hacker vibe
now you can see where i’m coming from a little.
Let me bring you up to speed with the technical definition of web3:
Web3 is an idea for a new iteration of the World Wide Web based on blockchain technology, which incorporates concepts such as decentralization and token-based economics.
Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 refer to eras in the history of the World Wide Web as it evolved through various technologies and formats. Web 1.0 refers roughly to the period from 1991 to 2004, where most websites were static web pages, and the vast majority of users were consumers, not producers, of content. Web 2.0 is based on the idea of "the web as platform" and centers on user-created content uploaded to forums, social media and networking services, blogs, and wikis, among other services. Web 2.0 is generally considered to have begun around 2004 and continues to the current day.
So what in the hell does that mean?!
Currently, you have “your” data on a social media platform, free of charge because you don’t own that data. Those platforms sell your data to the highest bidder, advertiser, or analytics firm. in return, you get to use the fancy app or website and connect with friends and family.
imagine that was not the case. instead, you own your data and it was distributed through a decentralized network. that would data would be tied to your wallet address. so when let’s say you went to a hypothetical web3 social media site you would log in with your wallet and see your data through the lenses of that site. they would display the data you own in a cool fashion and you aren’t being sold off to advertising. It gets even better, you own your data and your identity is no longer tied to any specific platform. freely bounce around with all your data. no more cross-posting from Instagram to Twitter.
There are some drawbacks to decentralization that the majority of users won’t overcome just yet. Let’s talk about latency, we are so accustomed to extremely fast load times and a responsive web. As of right now, web3 is not the quickest.
take POAP for example. they are a bad ass service for Proof of Attendance Protocol.
it is a great service and i absolutely love it but when claiming POAPs or viewing past POAPS in app or browser the load times aren’t the greatest, sometimes hanging up and having to reload the page. That is because it is pulling data from a decentralized network. I imagine with time,growth and expansion of the current blockchain networks this will be addressed and web3 will be just as snappy as web2.
with that being sad, web3 has me extremely intrigued by its transparency.
you can verify a claim made by someone by just looking in their wallet.
is there activity in and out of that wallet?
do they currently have the funds to back up there words?
is something fishy?
you can explore the whole chain on etherscan.
pretty slick if you ask me.
We are still in the early days of Decentralization but i think it is extremely beneficial and necessary for the future of computer networking and communication as we see it. Web2 is not going any where,Trust me.
what we will be seeing more off is a hybrid of the two, Web2.5 if you want. large media centrally hosted with parts of the application or website decentralized. Logging in with your wallet and interacting with the centralized data but still being able to walk away with your identity…..
// Tetsuo