Let’s go back in time a few years. When Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1989 it was a revolution. It provided easy access to unlimited information to everyone around the world. And all you needed was a connection to the internet and a free web browser. HTML language and hyperlinks democratized access to knowledge. Web surfing was born. The Web 1.0 let billions of people read articles and documents online, later on “google” all their questions or simply watch cute cat videos.

Web 1

But the early web, with its static pages, was lacking a few things. It was mainly to consume and read-only. One of the missing features was added with the next evolutionary step towards the Web 2.0: Participation. One early example for the Web 2.0 is the Wikipedia. The online encyclopedia that made all the big and expensive book volumes in this category obsolete. It might be one of the biggest collaborations in the world. Anyone can write or edit an article. The Web 2.0 let us all become creators and publishers. Blogs and social networks became a normal part of our daily life.

Web 2

But all the convenience and “free” services came with a hidden price: Centralization. A few big tech companies own and control our content and data. They sell our information and make huge profits with it. They decide what we are allowed to publish and how they monetize our content. We, the creators, are left with nothing but the permission to use the platform (according to their rules). Maybe in some cases we are able to receive a few crumbs of the big cake. Not more.

We Pay a Price

Tim Berners-Lee thought about the next step, called Web 3.0, being a semantic web. The core of this being machine learning and contextual understanding through artificial intelligence (AI). But this is not the Web3 we are talking about. To differentiate from this approach (“Web 3.0”), the current evolutionarily step of the World Wide Web is mostly written “Web3”. The term goes back to Gavin Wood, the co-founder of the Ethereum blockchain and founder of Polkadot, another famous blockchain.

Enter Web3

Web3 adds some very effective ingredients to the Internet: Blockchain and decentralization as its technological backbone plus token-based economics (including crypto currencies, NFTs and smart contracts). More about the future importance of tokens in this post: <a href="https://etatos.com/2022/04/22/why-tokens-are-the-next-big-thing-and-why-you-should-care/">Why Tokens Are The Next Big Thing – And Why You Should Care! </a>These new technological extensions to the Internet have the power to achieve a huge paradigm shift and transform the Web like nothing before.

Blockchain Technology 

Blockchain and its distributed ledger, plus everything build around, are the foundation to give more autonomy back to the people: <ul><li>We, as creators, own our content and can monetize it. </li><li>We can close contracts without third parties and middlemen involved (smart contracts). </li><li>We conduct financial business without banks (decentralized finance / DeFi). </li><li>We have a say in decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). </li><li>We control our own identity and personal data (self-sovereign identity). </li> </ul>

Autonomy to the People 

Furthermore, crypto currencies and tokens can give us back ownership and control of wealth and content. For example: No government can just create more Bitcoins (like they did with traditional fiat money, ultimately leading to high inflation). There will never be more than 21 million Bitcoin available. Content on the blockchain cannot be censored by regimes. Crypto currencies on self-custody wallets can’t be seized.

Ownership & Control

The blockchain does, right now, have a lot of disadvantages compared to the “classic” Internet: It does not yet have the computing power, bandwidth, or storage capabilities. Parts of it will probably become centralized like before. Because this is how things always tend to turn out. And it needs more easy to use applications. But billions are being invested and a lot of smart people put all their time and energy into developing more and better applications running on the blockchain and generating unique use cases, that weren’t possible before.

Limitations 

Of course, the biggest threat for Web3 are the traditional players: Governments overly regulating or even trying to ban use of crypto currencies completely. In favor for their own, fully controlled, CBDCs (Central bank digital currencies). The expected lobbying of the big tech companies and banks that see essential parts of their profitable businesses fading away in the future. And they fear the loss of control. Control over the money supply, transfers and over our data. And loss of control means loss of power which equals loss of profit.

Regulations & Threats

Right now, no one knows for sure how and when Web3 will fulfill all its hopes and promises. Or if it ever will. And if the Web3 community will be strong enough to win the essential battles against the three very powerful opponents (governments, banks, and big tech companies).In our opinion Blockchain and traditional Internet will complement each other and finally merge. And we should all support this goal for one reason which cannot be emphasized enough:Web3 brings back ownership and control and might be our last chance for personal freedom in the digital future!

Our Prediction

Web3 brings back ownership and control and might be our last chance for personal freedom in the digital future!

What Is Web3 and Why Is It Your Last Chance for Freedom? – eTatos.com

Dirk R. Bartz