This article is from WeChat official account: AlphatuDiary , author: Alfa Rabbit, original title: "Clean up the Source: the Most Complete Web3 User Manual in History", head picture from: unsplash
1、 About Web3.0
What is the concept of Web 3.0? Who first proposed it?
Web3.0, also known as Web3 (We use Web3 to replace Web3.0 below) Gavin Wood, co-founder of Ethereum and founder of Polkadot, proposed it in 2014.
Note: Polkadot is a kind of protocol: it is the next generation blockchain protocol that connects multiple dedicated blockchains to a unified network. The protocol is a set of agreements based on consensus. Such as how to establish a connection and how to identify each other.
In terms of concept, Web3 represents the next era of the Internet, The transformation of the Internet form to a more democratic paradigm stems from the change of people's attitudes towards the value of the Internet today : The Internet giant controls the Internet and everyone's data. Web3 represents that many people want to create a truly "collectively owned" Internet.
Why should we focus on Web3.0?
Every change in the form of the Internet will have a great impact on the world. The last form of the Internet that had a significant impact on society （Web2.0） It has spawned a batch of enterprises that have changed the way of human life and information interaction.
Economically, The development of Internet Web2.0 has promoted economic globalization and the rise of e-commerce and Internet technology, which have deeply influenced the world 。 We can find that (2017, 2018 and 2019) The value of the S&P 500 index's technology sector has doubled. Today, the technology sector shares account for about 25% of the entire S&P 500 index.
From the social perspective, compared with 20 years ago, the word "social" has a new meaning: Facebook, Google, Instagram and Twitter have gradually become giants of social start-ups that are still young in the era of Web2.0.
Politically, taking Facebook as an example, the existence of Internet oligarchs inciting rather than objective algorithm recommendation has become the norm, and even affected the American election.
The changes in the Internet pattern and the rise of new paradigms have had an impact on the world many times. It is necessary to pay attention to the future of the Internet.
Why does Web3.0 suddenly become popular?
2020, especially this year (By the end of 2021) The concept and theory of Web3 have been popularized rapidly, mainly because of the activists of cryptocurrency circle and well-known foreign venture capital (such as A16Z) We will sort out some entrepreneurship in the future.
The above figure shows the Crpto Portofolio of A16Z: Source A16Z
2、 From Web1.0 to Web3.0
To further understand the meaning of Web 3.0, we should start with Web 1.0.
The 1970s was at the peak of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. At that time, the United States had a central computer to control nuclear weapons. The US government is worried that an attack may paralyze the computer system, making it impossible for them to fight back. Therefore, the United States government has established a decentralized system, so that many computers are distributed throughout the country. If an attack occurs, the defense system will continue to operate to ensure that the two countries can mutually destroy each other.
Later, in 1989, Tim Berners Lee wrote a paper called Information Management: A Proposal, describing "network" as an information system network connected by hypertext links (In 2019, on the 30th birthday of the Internet, Tim Berners Lee also said that he was dissatisfied with the development direction of the Internet in recent years.) 。
Tim Berners Lee, who won the Turing Award in 2016, is now a professor at MIT
Then we entered the era of Web 1.0
Mosaic and Microsoft Internet Explorer's browsers have brought the Web to the mainstream audience. Everyone has begun to surf. The web design is relatively primitive. We use dial-up connection and telephone line to surf the Internet. It usually takes a long time to download a photo.
Features of Web1.0
Open source: Everyone can build freely on the basis of Web1.0, which creates Google in the garage and makes it possible for the enterprise achievements of these Internet giants today. If the Web is private, it is impossible. But Web 1.0 is read-only. This means that only a few of the thousands of users who browse the Web have the technical skills to publish content: only early programmers can show web content to everyone, and small white users can see it, but it is difficult to publish content.
Problems with Web1.0
Web 1.0 is based on open, decentralized, and community managed protocols. It is a read-only network. In the era of Web 1.0, users cannot interact with the content of the page (Can see, can't interact) 。 And, With the increase of the number of users, there are more and more Web 1.0 problems.
(The above text is mainly based on the text version of Google's product designer Tony Aub é's speech on WAQ2019, which is excerpted from the translation of technical trivia - 2020 - 08-26)
What is Web 2.0?
Web2.0 (The network we currently use) Compared with Web1.0, The main advantage of Web 2.0 is that users can interact with the network. From the beginning of Web 2.0, no matter small white users or technology gods, everyone can publish content online.
so Social networks are beginning to rise : Communities and various applications, including social networks and forums, are gradually emerging (Facebook, YouTube and Twitter were all simple ways for people to create their own Web at first) These apps encourage cooperation and information exchange, but the Internet giants still provide centralized services. Google, Amazon and Facebook almost completely control Web2.0.
Interestingly, just like in 2021, we will discuss Web3.0 here with great enthusiasm; Ten years ago, in 2009, Tim OReilly and John Battelle discussed the development of Web 2.0 in the past five years.
What was the specific background?
In the autumn of 2001, the bursting of the Internet bubble marked a turning point: Many people believe that the role of the Internet has been exaggerated. However, the technological revolution is characterized by the emergence of bubbles at the beginning and the continuous subversion later (This is still the case today) 。
Subversion and turbulence usually indicate that a technology on the rising curve is ready to step onto the historical stage. During this period, bubbles and those without strength will be washed out, and real success belongs to those with strength. People begin to understand the difference between chaos, subversion and bubbles.
The concept of "Web 2.0" began with a brainstorming at an OReilly conference: Dale Dougherty, the network pioneer and OReilly's vice president, pointed out that, Although the Internet bubble has broken, the network will not "collapse", but will become more important. Many excellent new applications and websites will surely emerge in endlessly 。 More importantly, those companies that survived the bursting of the Internet bubble seem to have some things in common. Does the large-scale collapse of Internet companies mark a turning point for the network? Perhaps the proposal of "Web 2.0" is meaningful? The Web 2.0 Conference was thus born.
Of course, even after the introduction of Web 2.0, there are more than 9.5 million references in Google. But people still have huge differences on the meaning of Web 2.0 (Similar to today's attitude towards Web3.0) Some people say that Web 2.0 is a meaningless marketing concept, while others accept it as a new wisdom.
Web 2.0 features: network as a platform
Like many important concepts, Web 2.0 does not have a clear boundary, but a powerful core, Think of Web 2.0 as a set of principles and practices 。
At the first Web 2.0 conference held in October 2004 A set of preliminary principles 。 The first is "network as a platform". At that time, the popular fried chicken Netscape and Microsoft Battle in the era of Web 1.0 went bankrupt. More importantly, the first two examples of the Web 1.0 era, DoubleClick and Akamai, were both pioneers of the Internet as a platform.
Although people often don't think of it as "network service", in fact, advertising service is the first widely deployed network service It is also the first widely deployed "mashup". Specifically, each advertising banner at that time was provided as a seamless cooperation between two websites, distributing a comprehensive page to readers on another computer. Akamai also regards the network as a platform to build a transparent cache and content distribution network at a deeper level of the stack to ease bandwidth congestion.
It is these pioneers of the times who provide the first cases, and the latecomers can further solve the same problem and have a deeper understanding of the nature of the new platform. DoubleClick and Akamai are pioneers of Web 2.0, but we can also see that by accepting more Web 2.0 design patterns, it is possible to realize more possibilities.
What is the difference between Web1.0 and Web2.0?
We use a table to show:
With the development of the times, Web 2.0 also has some problems, which create a premise for people to discuss and explore Web 3.0.
What are the problems with Web 2.0?
The early Internet, with a strong exploratory nature, was once explored, sealed, and commercialized by technology pioneers. Over time, although the Internet has always maintained the so-called "freedom", it has had many negative effects.
Take a scenario as an example: in our life, if we want to buy a train or plane ticket, all our searches are recorded and sold, and the data may be manipulated, which in turn affects us. The original feature of the Internet is the democratization of information. However, today, information is increasingly unreliable and, in some cases, even harmful. False accounts controlled by robots are affecting children.
The artificial face created by artificial intelligence can bring more social problems through deep counterfeiting and identity theft. False news will cause economic losses of more than 70 billion dollars in 2019, and will only become more and more serious in the future. The spread speed of false negative news stories is six times that of true news stories, This trend has a very serious negative impact 。
This brings an opportunity for the emergence of Web3.0.
The arrival of Web3
Just like the birth of Web2, the arrival of Web3 places hopes on people to solve the problems existing in the current Internet. Web3 is also called Semantic Web （Semantic Web ） , because By promoting the interpretation of user metadata, Web3 can provide a more personalized interface. Promise to return privacy and digital identity to users, and realize a new level of interaction thanks to NFTs and dApps. Blockchain technology brings together the essence of Web1 and Web2 in Web3 。
What is the Semantic Web?
To put it simply, the Semantic Web is an intelligent network. It can not only understand words and concepts, but also understand the logical relationship between them, which can make communication more efficient and valuable.
A usage scenario: the Semantic Web is an intelligent network that can make judgments based on semantics, enabling barrier free communication between people and computers. It is like a giant brain, with a high degree of intelligence and strong coordination ability.
For example, when browsing news, the Semantic Web can label every news report and describe in detail which sentence is the author, which sentence is the lead, and which sentence is the title; If you enter "Lao She's works" into the search engine, you can easily find Lao She's works instead of his articles. The Semantic Web is a more personalized network, and you can give it high trust to help you filter out the content you don't like, making the network more like your own network.
//baike.baidu.com/item/%E8%AF%AD%E4%B9%89%E7%BD%91/118508?fr=aladdin
3、 Web 3.0 definition in Ethereum
In order to give you a clearer understanding of Web3.0, let's take Ethereum as an example.
According to the definition of Ethereum, Web2 refers to the Internet version that we know today. Specifically, it refers to Internet companies that provide services through the exchange of personal data and information. In the scope of Ethereum, Web3 refers to decentralized applications running on the blockchain. All users can participate in building/using these apps, but personal data does not need to be sold.
Advantages of Web3
Because Ethereum is decentralized, many Web3 engineers choose to develop dapp (dapp is D+app, d is the first letter of the English word decentralization, and word translation in Chinese is decentralized, that is, dapp is decentralized application) , everyone on the network has the right to use the Web3 service. There is no mechanism to prevent users from using Web3, and payment is mainly made through Ethereum （ETH） Built in native token.
Since Ethereum has Turing completeness, all requirements can be realized with code and programming on Ethereum.
What is Turing completeness?
To put it simply, Turing is complete: if it is a Turing complete language, there is no excuse to say that this function cannot be completed. To take another popular example, let's take an analogy. A car has only an engine and no steering wheel. So you can only drive straight and can't turn, so you can't go anywhere. But if you have the steering wheel, you can go anywhere.
Turing completeness here mainly refers to whether the blockchain can run a piece of code. This code is written in a high-level language, which can be judged conditionally, and even has the function of circulation. It is called "Turing completeness".
What is the difference between Web3.0 and Web2.0?
4、 Web3.0 technology stack
In order to explain the technical level of Web3 more clearly, let's take a look at Web3 Foundation's explanation of Web3 technology stack:
Image source: //web3.foundation/about/
As shown in the figure above:
L4: Top layer of technology stack , participants are mainly ordinary users (Just like today's ordinary users interact with web pages on the front end of the browser) Users can interact with single or multiple blockchains (Application, etc.) interaction.
Protocol extensible user interface ("like a browser") , a program that users use to interact directly with the blockchain, without knowing how to program and implement details: examples include Status, MetaMask or MyCrypto.
L3: Human readable language and library layer At this level, developers and programmers can properly abstract and develop programs. This layer includes APIs and languages for extensible protocols: there are various languages that can be used to develop applications, such as Solidity and Vyper （Ethereum） ，Plutus （Cardano） , and Rust （Substrate） 。
In addition, there are various frameworks that make it easier to program applications that interact with the blockchain, such as ethers.js, web3.js, and oo7.js.
L2: This layer enhances the capabilities of L1 : Performs functions such as improving scalability, encrypted messaging, and distributed computing.
Status channel （State channels） : Blockchain is a way to improve scalability by allowing nodes to communicate with each other outside the chain, and by "opening" and "closing" channels on the main chain, only writing the initial and final results, rather than recording every state transition on the chain. Examples include Bitcoin's Lightning Network and Ethereum's Raiden Network
Plasma Protocol Plasma is another way to improve scalability by creating a "tree" of the blockchain. The main chain is the root of the tree, while the "child" blockchain interacts with higher level chains as little as possible. Examples include Loom's PlasmaChain and OmigeGO Plasma. Encrypted storage means encrypted storage. Use cryptography to mathematically encrypt and decrypt data, including static (i.e. stored on a specific computer) And Dynamic (i.e. transfer from one computer to another) 。 For example, static refers to storage encryption and dynamic refers to transmission encryption (HTTPS is a kind of transmission encryption) 。
Heavy computing : It can be understood that if a large number of calculations are required, such as pushing a large number of objects in an array, a method can be provided to allow the calculation to be distributed among many computers and prove that the calculation is correct. Examples include Golem and TrueBit of Ethereum.
Distributed secret management : Only authorized parties are allowed to access information, including complex scenarios, such as "all six signers need to use their keys to decrypt this information" or "any five of the seven signers must agree".
Oracles : Transfer out of chain data (e.g. weather results or stock prices) A way to inject blockchain, which is generally used by smart contracts.
L1: This layer provides the ability to distribute and interact with data.
Zero/low trust interaction protocol : A protocol that describes how different nodes interact and trust the computation and information from each node. Most cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and ZCash, conform to the definition of zero/low trust interaction protocol, which describes the rules that nodes need to follow to participate in the protocol.
Data Distribution Protocol : A protocol that describes how data is allocated and communicated between nodes of the decentralized system. Examples include IPFS, Swarm, and BigchainDB.
Instantaneous data public/sub information transmission : Describe data that is not intended to be stored permanently (e.g. status update) The protocol of how to be communicated and how to make the node aware of its existence. Examples include Whisper and Matrix.
L0: This layer provides data distribution and interaction capabilities.
Zero/low trust interaction protocol : A protocol that describes how different nodes interact and trust the computation and information from each node. Most cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and ZCash, conform to the definition of zero/low trust interaction protocol, and describe the rules that nodes need to follow to participate in the protocol.
Peer to Peer Internet Coverage Protocol （Peer-to-peer, p2p） : A network suite that allows nodes to communicate in a decentralized manner.
Platform neutral computational description language （Platform-neutral computation description language） : A kind of (architecture, operating system, etc.) The way to execute the same program on the. Examples include EVM (Ethereum) 、UTXOs (Bitcoin) And Wasm.
5、 Specific connotation of Web3 and current entrepreneurial projects
As shown in the figure above, these infrastructure layers together build a protocol world on the platform. Now let's discuss the specific situation of each module in the Web3 world and what companies are doing these things:
identity
For any kind of decentralized communication, commerce or collaboration, a reliable identity authentication system is required: the most basic method is to connect the identity with the address or public/private key pair on the open and secure blockchain such as Bitcoin or Ethereum. These addresses can optionally be attached with additional information (such as image) This is what we call NFT or token.
However, there are two main challenges:
1) These address strings are very long.
2) Although the identity is secure, it exists on the blockchain, and the data transmission cost on the blockchain is extremely high. Projects such as ENS and Handshake aim to solve the authentication problem through their own databases, link BTC or ETH addresses with human readable names, and build a decentralized DNS. At the same time, the developers of the Lightning Network Ecosystem are trying to connect their identities with the nodes on the second layer of the more secure blockchain, such as Bitcoin. In projects like Sphinx, end users can do this without understanding Lightning Networks.
Although the specific way of identity authentication is not clear at present, a feasible way is to enter various networks through holding specific digital bearer assets/NFT/private keys as an intermediary. This kind of authentication from Internet giants to NFT in the future will have various interesting impacts on future user experience. Imagine, for example, that you need a specific picture token to enter a fun chat room.
Another possible social consequence of this decentralized identity service is to allow humans to carry out more experiments on the concept of "self". We should know that the traditional mapping of "who we are" relies on family names and ID cards, but these are rather arbitrary signs before the advent of the Internet. Just as we are constantly changing as people, our selective identity can also be like this now, and many people will choose different pseudonyms for different knowledge and economic pursuits. calculation
The ability to generally calculate or execute any smart contract will also be negotiated. The main candidate for computers in the Web3 world is Ethereum, because it has a large-scale developer network effect. However, the main problems about its scalability still exist, leading to a wave of layer 2 (rolls, Looping, etc.) And a new competitive smart contract platform. Platforms like Stacks are conducting new technology experiments to anchor blockchains that are relatively more secure, such as Bitcoin.
Use case of this decentralized smart contract: the first major product market fit is to establish an open financial system (commonly referred to as DeFi) 。 Perhaps the next wave will revolve around the creation of other open, unlicensed enterprises and human organizations, more commonly known as DAO or distributed autonomous organizations. This kind of DAO may look like a more open corporate structure, with elected managers, board of directors and reports (For example, see the latest quarterly report of Yearn Finance on Github) 。
Another more radical method of decentralized computing comes from the project of rebuilding the entire computing stack : So far, projects like Urbit:
1) Personal server, which can be hosted locally or in the cloud;
2) A completely rewritten operating system aims to fundamentally simplify the current bloated code. The founder is extremely controversial: it is a super Nerd, and seems to be the naming convention borrowed from Magic: The Gathering. The project has caused its confusion and controversy, but the community's goal and determination (It has a history of nearly 20 years.) It is quite impressive.
signal communication
Web 3 Primitive （primitives） There will be considerable overlap between them. For example, Urbit is trying to establish a new type of computer and network communication protocol. Other projects only focus on p2p communication to promote core applications such as messaging and social media.
At present, the most famous one may be Mastodon (Using Activity Pub protocol) , which has more than 2 million users and seems to have attracted a large number of Bitcoin Twitter recently. Mastodon has a user-friendly interface, but it is not decentralized like many other protocols. It uses a joint model. Different network participants are either servers or clients, but not both. Therefore, the server can run any version of Mastodon it likes, but the clients connected to the server are still controlled by the person who controls it. For most users, manual migration is not easy.
Another competition mode is Scuttlebutt, which uses a p2p gossip protocol （p2p gossip protocol ） Here, each computer in the network is both a client and a server, so it can transfer information to other trusted nodes without calling any centralized entity. This architecture looks great, but there are still problems with scalability, which is still in its early days.
At the same time, projects like Maskbook are taking the trojan method: instead of building a new social network from scratch, users are allowed to enhance their existing social networks (e.g. Twitter and Facebook) Experience on. By simply downloading a browser extension, users can selectively encrypt information and link their posts to other web3 applications, such as Uniswap or SuperRare, for encrypted currency or NFT transactions in their posts.
Many of these communications may eventually take place on the lightning network above Bitcoin.
storage
We need to store all the data of Web3, and four projects, namely, Arweave, Filecoin/IPFS, Sia, and Storj, focus on this area. Filecoin, Sia and Storj are like AirBnB in the storage industry. The goal is to establish a network and encourage hard disk owners from all over the world (From amateur to professional) Let them use their excess storage capacity during as much uptime as possible. They use a time limited payment mode similar to traditional cloud storage providers such as AWS, GCP or Azure.
Their biggest difference lies in:
1) Not easy to be reviewed;
2） (theoretically) Low cost.
However, they are skeptical of long-term cost-effectiveness. The project shows that the storage options provided by Filecoin are more than 5 times cheaper than AWS. However, as the project begins to gain more adoption, I can hardly believe that it will not become a competition. Companies such as Amazon and Google have more loot to build more and better data centers, and even subsidize their product costs. But time will finally verify these things.
Arweave has taken a completely different path: it promises to be "permanent storage", that is, a one-time payment and permanent access. The purpose of the project is to pass the "Access Certificate" （PoA） A new mechanism is designed to achieve this goal, which uses the elements of random X work proof and storage proof to encourage each node in the network to store the entire collective database as much as possible. Prepayments are actually donations that can cover storage costs indefinitely (or as long as the cost of hard disk space continues to decline) 。 Arweave has cooperated with the Internet Archive and other organizations to back up all their data, and is still storing copies of other blockchains, such as Solana.
If persistent storage is effective, you can imagine that it is very valuable for developers who want to permanently store pointers and data for their applications. So, considering the above elements, how far are we from building a truly decentralized Internet? In terms of cryptocurrency/value, it is relatively mature. For communication, identity, storage and computing, we seem to be approaching, but we are not ready for mainstream adoption.
At present, more and more enthusiasts begin to pay attention to these applications, venture capital and capital inflows, but the biggest risk still exists here: it is at the beginning of the Web3 bubble, mainly to gradually lay the foundation for mainstream adoption 5-10 years later. All technology trends are accelerating due to the existence of the Internet (This is largely due to our existing Internet) , so it is possible to see Big Player in the next 1-3 years
6、 Features of Web3.0
The characteristics of Web3 are conducive to the premise of the emergence of Web3: this more "intelligent" Internet, where users can search more closely to natural language.
Because the rules and network content are more relevant, the information that users search for will be more direct.
1. User history record.
Navigation frequency
Network traffic
Search Type
Implementation activities
Online purchase
2. The website will analyze data and user behavior.
3. Personalization of the network (Each individual user is different) 。
4. Development of Web3.0 technology.
It includes language, intelligent program, artificial intelligence assistance and semantics. RDF: tools such as RDF Schema and OWL allow adding meaning to pages and is one of the essential technologies of the Semantic Web.
artificial intelligence : 3.0 technology adds computing processing, which can derive new knowledge from different knowledge sources. AI inputs rules and relationships between concepts and objects, derives new theorems, and grows the knowledge base.
Com : The goal of this website is very ambitious. It hopes to become the largest free global database in the world.
5. Provide customized network personalized services 。
6. Interoperability between platform and social network 。
7. Geographic positioning : You can know where the user is.
8. Intelligent search: When searching, there will be no more thousands of items. The network will know everyone and display relevant content directly according to their search needs.
7、 What are the limitations of Web3?
At present, Web3 still has some limitations:
First, scalability needs to be improved. Specifically, because Web3 is decentralized, the above trade fair is relatively slow. In particular, changes in payment and other status, due to the large number of nodes, need to be handled by miners and spread throughout the network.
The second is user experience: At present, we need more educational processes and the world to interact with Web3 App, especially the new adoption requires additional steps, which may be one of the obstacles to the current widespread adoption.
Third, the accessibility of Web3 is still insufficient Due to the lack of integration of Web3 and modern web browsers, most ordinary users cannot access web3.
The fourth is cost : Due to the high cost, most successful Dapps only put a small part of code on the blockchain.
Difference between decentralized network and non decentralized network
8、 At what stage is Web3 currently? What other application cases?
What are the application cases of Web3?
Because Web3 is better than DeFi (Decentralized finance) The concept category of is updated, and there are relatively few specific examples. However, for example, just as finance has various applications, such as loans and loans, the Internet is also composed of various services and components.
Internet Architecture&Services
The architecture of the Internet is not what most people think: our Internet is either working, delayed, or offline. But ISPs like T-Mobile and AT&T (Internet Service Provider) Because of monopoly, it will promise fast connection and then charge. On the contrary, companies like Andrena and Althea can create community networks to bypass Internet providers, and individuals can conduct business activities and get paid in such community networks.
For example, the owner can invest in an Andrena hotspot, and then all tenants can join the Andrena wireless network. The tenant will pay the landlord according to the data and network usage. Other blockchain networks, such as Handshake and Unstoppable Domains, aim to make the existing domain name system （DNS） Democratization, the system maps the IP address to the readable address. DNS is controlled by ICANN and other organizations and has unilateral control power.
Data storage, distribution and monetization
For individuals like us, data is difficult to make profits. But if many individual data sets are in the hands of large groups, it is easy to make profits. In the first half of 2020, Robin Hood gained nearly 300 million dollars in revenue through sales of customer order flow data. We all understand this concept, which is why Snapchat is losing money every year, but investors understand that the company has millions of Gen Z users, and the potential value of these data is very high.
Organizations such as Ocean Protocol, Streamr and Numerai are building protocols to realize an open data market, and anyone can share their data or monetize it (sold for profit) 。 Data is the basic part of how we discuss how to store and transfer value on the Internet. Data commercialization has not yet been achieved because data is isolated, sensitive or proprietary.
Web3 protocol provides a means for the market that sensitive data can be shared and proprietary data can be accurately priced and sold. Transform data into tangible data assets (e.g. token) It will release value and develop a more powerful data ecosystem.
Another key part of data is cross server storage, which is mainly controlled by a few large companies. Decentralized data storage and network hosting services like Sia, Arweave and Filecoin are supporting the creation of new decentralized applications.
App and other Internet infrastructure services
We use a lot of services, which you may not realize. WIFI, location service （GPS） Bluetooth connection, information service （iOS、Android） , video and audio streaming （Youtube、Twitch、Spotify） wait.
These applications are controlled by giants. More importantly, the services and infrastructure used by these applications are centralized, or by a few large companies (e.g. Google, AWS, Microsoft) Control. New agreements and companies, such as Helium (Open wireless network) 、Foam (Open Location Service) 、Livepeer (Video transcoding and streaming media) 、Orchid (Distributed and private VPN) And so on, are building distributed and community operated services.
The service cost of these communities is lower because they can eliminate the middleman step. Traditionally, streaming media giants such as YouTube provide "free" data storage for all videos of content creators. YouTube assists users in video transcoding to ensure that viewers can watch videos in a uniform format. Seamless provision of all these services will bind content producers to each platform.
The protocol in the Web3 scenario can weaken the power of a single company by splitting all services provided by a company to users. Audius (music streaming) 、OurZora、Mirror (decentralized publishing platform) All are creating platforms, and users have the content they produce and have a say in the governance of these platforms.
In the future, content creators will be able to publicly store their data, separate from where they consume data. Although these services are not convenient today, they may be built into the basic platform we use daily in the future.
What are the opinions against Web3?
However, there are also voices against Web3. For example, James Grimmelmann, a professor of law and technology at Cornell University, said that Web3 is a pseudo concept, which is a product that has been announced but cannot be delivered.
Grimmelmann believes that "Web3 is an imaginary future Internet, which just makes up for all the features that people do not like the current Internet, and even some contradictions." If part of the driving force for the development of Web3 is to resist giving personal data to technology giants, then blockchain cannot be a solution, because it will make more data public.
Supervision
At 23:00 on December 8, Beijing time, Maxine Waters, Chairman of the Financial Services Committee of the US House of Representatives （Maxine Waters） He presided over a hearing on the theme of "Cryptographic assets and the future of finance: understanding the challenges and benefits of financial innovation in the United States".
Members of the House of Representatives sought to gain a deeper understanding of cryptographic assets through hearings and debate the correct regulatory rules. The debate focused on regulatory methods, stable currency, investor protection, Web3.0, and other issues in the industry.
9、 Looking forward to the future
Web3: An open protocol world
At present, one assumption for Web3 is that, Based on the open source protocol and the enterprise as the interface, it provides convenient access and additional functions 。 Web3 is an Internet open to all users, based on open protocols and decentralized blockchain networks. The way for users to connect with the protocol may be to provide a convenient way to interact with the underlying technology through hybrid applications. Data will be used to promote decision-making, but not to sell and deal with consumers. Data rights will be protected, rather than some enterprises using data by any means in order to seek profits. An incentive market mechanism will help ensure the credibility and verifiability of information.
In the Web3 world, more emphasis is placed on sovereign individuals, rather than wealthy elites and rent-seeking people. The re architecture of systems and agreements will focus on decentralized democratization.
Some Thoughts on Web2 and Its Transition to Web3
People tend to be dissatisfied and angry with Internet oligarchs or anyone who manipulates the Internet for their own interests. Although understandable, this is not necessarily the right attitude.
In the early days, the Internet needed the efforts of pioneers and commercial enterprises to develop tools so that the Internet could be used. Pioneer enterprises and individuals received due rewards. As long as the existing design of the Internet does not change, people will continue to give data, time and money to large technological oligarchs in exchange for the Internet products we must use. However, numerous attempts, changes in consumer behavior and technological innovation are needed to solve this situation.
We are approaching a world that is increasingly controlled by technology. The key is how to design a system conducive to the collective and readjust the incentive mechanism? From the current Internet （Web2） The transition to Web3 will be a decades long process, which will fundamentally change the way people interact with the Internet. The arrival of Web3 seems inevitable, and will be gradually promoted.
This article thanks my teacher Michael Ian Shamos, Carnegie Mellon University, who guided the author to design the first trading system;
Thank my teacher, Microsoft China RD Basin, for giving me long-term guidance in Blockchain and Cloud;
Thanks to my teacher Wenyan Qin, chairman of the North American Blockchain Fund, who helped me a lot in my learning process.
Thank you for Zhuang Sir, Wei Sir, Tison, Lao Wang, Greg and Yerik's patient answers to the questions.
reference material:
one //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web3
two //www.npr.org/2021/11/21/1056988346/web3-internet-jargon-or-future-vision
three //gavwood.com/dappsweb3.html
four //theconversation.com/web-3-0-the-decentralised-web-promises-to-make-the-internet-free-again-113139
five //blog.cloudflare.com/what-is-web3/
six //ethereum.org/en/developers/docs/web2-vs-web3/
seven //www.vanticatrading.com/post/what-is-web3-and-how-blockchain-enables-it
eight //messari.io/article/web3-eli5-what-is-web3
nine //blockchainhub.net/web3-decentralized-web/
ten //medium.com/fabric-ventures/what-is-web-3-0-why-it-matters-934eb07f3d2b
eleven //thenewstack.io/web3-architecture-and-how-it-compares-to-traditional-web-apps/
twelve //www.inc.com/inc-masters/what-the-heck-is-web-three-and-why-you-should-care.html
thirteen //versionone.vc/visions-of-web-3/
14. Three revolutions of Web3 - technical trivia - 2021-08-26
This article is from WeChat official account: AlphatuDiary , by Alfa Rabbit
