Internet services have evolved since their invention, and like every other invention, the evolution always brings about the establishment of new and most advanced features. If you’ve not heard of the latest advancement in the evolution of the internet, permit me to introduce you to web 3.0, which is another one of the metaverse changes.
You can refer to it as web3. And it is based on a decentralised system that would be in total support of the blockchain mechanics and usage of tokens.
The point of this new web is understood to have been birthed by a classified and centralised group of tech companies also seen as the “Big Tech”. In 2014, Gavin Wood, a founding member of Ethereum suggested the term, but the idea didn’t gather the required momentum until 2021 when cryptocurrency stakeholders realised the benefits of the new web.
Some of the key points to note is that this advancement makes it easy for you to use internet-based applications and sites because they employ Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the machine’s understanding of the data on the net to provide a better internet service that would be the syntactic web.
Web 3.0 is yet to be launched into action yet, thus we don’t know the right definition and features remain unclear to us. If you look closely at the evolution from web 1.0 to web 2.0, you would see that it took more than a decade. This is also expected of the transition to the latest too.
Some of the proposed features are already in use even though most features are still in development. Features like Smart home and the Internet of Things (IoT) are amongst the expected features to be expected in the new web version.
Following the development of internet services from inception when websites could not be interacted with to web 2.0 when the internet became more interactive for users, more changes are expected from the new version in terms of the interactions between users and the whole internet structure.
Technology experts have proposed that the web3 would operate hand in hand with web2 websites meaning that the sites would still be web 2.0, but web3 functions would be adopted to keep the sites relevant.
What Is The Metaverse?
Some say the Metaverse is not a real word yet because its real meaning is yet to manifest, but we can use our layman understanding to interpret the word and give it meaning at least.
The simple meaning of the word is like a kind of world that we’d experience in just years to come, and this world is expected to enable us to do more things with ease because by then, the internet would have grown so much stronger than it is at the moment.
In the Metaverse, virtually everything would be Virtual. You can imagine the way we use smartphones now, and it’s not even the Metaverse yet, then imagine how much more comfortable it would be when we start to experience this world.
We’re not saying the world would be like the way we see it in Superman movies. All we’re saying is that it would be a merge of the present and the future to be in the present.
Reception
After looking into the possible benefits of the new web, tech journalists have concluded that web3 might be the messiah to the problems we face from the over-centralisation of the internet. The main issues we complain of like privacy, data security, amongst others, would be solved far beyond what web 2.0 could ever achieve.
According to Bloomberg, it offers more than advancements in application functions as most of its tools are perfect for you if you are a blockchain user or trader.
You should expect much from this evolution because The New York Times published that some tech investors are placing a bet of $27 million that web3 would take the internet to an unimaginable level.
We saw a glimpse of what it would look like when some internet-related companies operating on web 2.0 have incorporated other features of the new version in their platforms.
In 2021, the CEO of Discord revealed that they might be adding options for crypto wallets on their network, but this announcement was met with heavy dissatisfaction from the public. So, Discord had to announce that no plans of such were made by the firm.
Regardless of the wide belief shown by giant tech stakeholders in this development, some other major stakeholders have characterised it as a mere buzzword. For example, a writer for The Register, Liam Proven describes web3 as a fairy tale seniors tell children if they want them to build a career in economics.
Also, in 2021, Tesla’s chief showed his doubts about the web3 publicly in a tweet where he says, “seems more business than possibility right now”. Another giant tech stakeholder, James Grimmelmann, explains web3 as a smoke wave when he said, “the promises of a better internet to rectify human satisfaction about the internet is a facade as the new web is even more dangerous.”
Another UK engineer analysed web3 as a marketing strategy to repaint the public’s negative ideology towards cryptocurrency and reshape it into an untrue narrative to disrupt the power within tech companies.
Web3 Vs Older Versions
Web 2.0 are internet-based applications and websites that display content obtained from users. Most of the platforms we use on the internet today operate on web 2.0 because it allows us to interact more on the sites. The main distinction between web 2.0 and 3.0 is the focus of the latter on AI, to make the internet more convenient for us and provide the information important to you, so you don’t have to depend on just what some other people upload on the web.
Web 2.0 gives us more room to interact with internet consumers, but the new web would transfer this responsibility to function with machine learning. Thus, making the web syntactic.
Expected Features of The New Internet
Regardless of the characteristics of the new internet still being hazy because it is not fully developed yet, some of the features you can expect from this evolution are below:
The first thing you should expect of the new internet is that the internet would not be all linked to a sole server moving forward from the old internet functions where computers implore HTTP to search the information that is stored on a sole server.
One thing you can gain on the new internet is that you would get information on the internet while it seems like the internet is reading your mind because the internet would have understood your previous searches and entries and thus would know the possible information you’re interested in.
This is in a bid to reduce the weight of databases in the hands of giant tech companies like Facebook and share them with the users. Thus, the distribution of the data would be in our hands as users.
Also, web3 is like teaching computers to read information like humans with the use of technologies built on the concept of the semantic internet. Also, it uses a processing mode also known as machine language that is categorised under Artificial Intelligence that is built on algorithms enabling it to learn like humans and master human accuracy with time. These abilities would equip the computer to give more swift and more important responses negating the old method of targeting adverts and building loads of endeavour.
Moreover, aside from the decentralisation being the biggest difference of the new internet, you have access to raw and important data without authorization from anybody, we even control the sales of data as I’ve said earlier through a reliable link and everybody can contribute without the permission of no particular governing body.
Web3 networks would be built on peer-to-peer connections like blockchain. If you wish, you are still allowed to use other technologies like APIs and other software on the new web.
Lastly, the new internet is dubbed the Internet of Things (IoT) because connections can be made by multiple devices, and applications. Thus, everyday users would multiply in numbers.
Potential Disadvantage Of Web3
There might not be many downsides to this new evolution but just like the popular saying that everything in life has two sides to it. Continue reading to learn more about the disadvantages of the new web.
First, decentralisation would bring about some legal loopholes like misinformation, internet crimes, amongst others which are already difficult crimes for the government. These crimes would become harder to track down because there is no centralised system to track them down. This is to say that the decentralised internet system would result in excessive free will, and regulation gets more tedious. For instance, laws cannot work on a network that is hosted in several countries all over the world simultaneously.
Final Words
Making a comparison with the media world, web 1.0 can be compared to the era of movies in just two colours, web 2.0 depicts the multicolour era, and web3 can be compared to running in the metaverse.
Web 2.0 got prominent in the 2010s considering the global landscape in that period, and web3 might dominate the 2020s just the same way. An early hint is a change from Facebook to Meta in October 2021.
