Web3 has long been on everyone’s lips. The whole tech industry is talking about it, but what exactly?
Technicians love to talk about the future, and if you pay attention to the latest headlines in the industry, you’ve probably seen “Web3″all over the place. This is not a new term, but as the hype around cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and other metawares intensifies, Web3 is getting more and more attention. And while Web3 is inextricably linked to these topics, Web3 goes beyond simple monkey JPGs and crypto mining, it has the potential to make the Internet much more open, anonymous, and more trustworthy.
At least we hope so. There are high hopes for Web3 and related technologies that will make this version of the World Wide Web so much better. Some of these rumors are completely legitimate, but some fall into the “too good to be true”category.
What is Web3 and why do we need it?
While Web2.0 was a set of technological and regulatory changes designed to completely change the Internet as it was in the early 2000s and make it what we know today, Web3 offers much bigger changes to the Internet., in how we connect and communicate online.
The original version of the Internet, now called “Web 1.0”, was fairly simple. Giant social networking sites and other search engines did not exist, and hardly anyone could hope to make an income or gain popularity simply by posting information on the Internet. It was difficult to just connect to the Internet, let alone develop, host and operate a website. The Internet then was a collection of small sites and blogs, and users got into forums and discussion rooms according to their interests.
Then came Web 2.0, which made it much easier to interact, bring people together, and create content. Much of this content has been centralized on specific platforms like Facebook, YouTube or Patreon, and even hosting your own website has become easy and inexpensive thanks to companies like WordPress and GoDaddy. The downside is that it all depends on the big companies and their servers. If these platforms fall, you will no longer be able to access content or people. It also means that these companies can collect user data to sell ads and “control”the content of their platforms as they see fit. For example, it goes beyond censorship.
Web3 wants to fix the problems inherent in Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 by creating a decentralized Internet accessible to everyone while respecting their privacy and anonymity. Decentralization and anonymity on the Internet is generally what people want. That’s why some are already doing their best to get rid of Google, Facebook and Apple and looking for free alternatives to these giants’ products.
But how can Web3 lead us to a more open and egalitarian web?
How does Web3 technology work?
Like most IT trends of recent times, much of Web3 is based on blockchain technology. Blockchain is essentially a decentralized network built on peer-to-peer connections. Each device on the network handles a small portion of the computation and communications that take place on the network, creating a serverless online network.
In particular, this enables serverless communication between users. We have already seen this in action on some messaging apps, especially those that allow activists to communicate with each other in Hong Kong without losing their anonymity due to the lack of a centralized server.
You can also use peer-to-peer connections to decentralize online content. Instead of connecting to a server that hosts websites, each user’s computer stores some data on their device. This is how BitTorrent downloads work, for example, and some web browsers are already testing implementations of this feature. If this were implemented on a large scale, the need for centralized servers could theoretically be eliminated.
While the possibilities for these peer-to-peer communications are impressive, blockchain is best known for cryptocurrencies and NFTs, two very important technologies in Web3, each in its own way. Many people consider NFTs and cryptocurrencies to be distractions at best and outright scams at worst. However, there are examples of NFTs and cryptocurrencies that can be used, for example, for the real benefit of artists and users in general.
For example, NFTs may allow you to resell or trade the digital goods you have purchased, as you can prove their authenticity – hello by trading and reselling digital video games -. It could also allow artists to no longer rely on centralized platforms to sell their work: Musicians can use NFC to sell access to their music instead of uploading it to Spotify. NFTs can also provide more secure and anonymous authentication, and even make the recruitment process nearly instantaneous.
The most ambitious Web3 project is the concept of the metaverse. The Metaverse is a virtual space in which users interact with online content and other users in real time, most commonly in virtual and/or augmented reality environments. This idea has been around in science fiction for decades and is now widely promoted by Mark Zuckerberg – hence the name was changed from Facebook to Meta – but there are so many companies that want to do business.
Real buzz?
It’s easy to marvel at the potential of Web3 technology, but it’s important to remember that all of this is just a goal at the moment, far from guaranteed. Many Web3 evangelists have invested in its success, others are still more objective in observing this (r)evolution.
The problem is that this Web3 hype is based on promises about what blockchain can enable, how NFT can be used. And the vast majority of technologies do not yet exist, and if they do, they still need to be properly implemented.
This does not mean that Web3 is just a showcase, but the final reality may be very different from what we see today. We have already seen how some of the promises of Web3 have been interrupted to focus on more accessible goals: Blockchain technology was originally designed to create a decentralized computing world that would connect everyone to a huge network without a server, but now it has moved to cryptocurrency and other NFT transactions. These transactions are incredibly expensive, they are very energy intensive, which is devastating to the environment.
This NFT/cryptocurrency is also playing a big role in the current chip shortage affecting the computer components industry. The evangelists are again explaining to anyone who wants to hear it that once everything is properly scaled, the blockchain will no longer be such a sink of resources, but for now it’s a good promise to add to the list.
Currently, the general public is skeptical or ignorant of NFTs and cryptocurrencies. Platform managers such as Google and Apple are after crypto-mining apps, and the industry has come under suspicion from many government agencies, especially in the United States. Some companies have even decided to stop using NFTs and related technologies.
However, despite all this, Web3 still talks a lot about it.
Most likely, at some point, the functionality of blockchain, NFTs, cryptography, and even the metaverse will start to take hold in the browsers, apps, and devices we use every day. When that happens, we will truly enter the Web3 era, and hopefully then we will have more freedom, anonymity, and control over our online lives than we do today. Ultimately, the question arises: when will this happen?