5 Answers To The Question “The Hell Is A Web 3.0?”
The future is coming, and it’s called Web3
Guys, Web3 is giving me a massive headache.
Background: several months back I wrote an article titled, “The Hell Is A Web 3.0?” Its purpose was to help me comprehend this term (Web 3.0) that kept popping up in my feed and occasionally on my news sites. The resulting article was a very, very, (really have to emphasize this) very basic description of what Web 3.0 means.
Well! I am pleased to announce that since that day I have researched. I have read. And I understand infinitely less about it than I did when I wrote that post, because I’ve gotten in a peek into how it’s built and what it means and whatever the ass is going on with Ethereum and oh my god, my dudes.
I understand nothing. I am functionally Jon Snow.
Thankfully, your knowledge does not depend on my comprehension. There are a hell of a lot of people who are way smarter than me who actually do understand what is going on, and they explain it much better than I would.
So I will let them do the talking.
Below are the 5 best articles that I’ve found answering the question “What the literal hell is Web 3.0?”
1. What Is Web 3.0? The Future of the Internet
This article is from singlegrain.com, a digital marketing website. It does a good job of explaining what Web 3.0 is and how it differs from Web 1.0 and 2.0. The descriptions/terms they use are pretty ubiquitous over all the Web 3.0 articles I’ve found (apparently there are only so many ways to say “decentralized”) and they include a section on what Web 3.0 means for digital marketing, which is pretty interesting if you’re in that field.
2. What Is Web 3.0: A beginner’s guide to the decentralized internet of the future
Cointelegraph is a crypto site with articles that range from introducing Web 3.0 (ie, this article) to the basics of blockchain to things like proof-of-stake vs. proof-of-work, which I do not understand and will not cover.
Because, again, I do not understand them.
But this article from Coinbase takes a more in-depth look at Web 3.0, its properties, the evolution of the web, and the advantages of Web 3.0 over the first two. It definitely has a crypto slant, and I honestly skimmed the section about native assets and payment tokens and burn tokens, because I don’t consider that necessary for a grasp of the basics.
3. What is Web3? The Decentralized Internet of the Future Explained
This article is from freecodecamp.org, and introduces more of a developer’s point of view into the question “what is web 3.0?” As with the first two, it discusses the evolution of the web and what Web 1.0 and 2.0 looked like, but it zooms in more on monetization, security, and privacy than those articles do.
It also gives current (I assume current? It was written a few months ago) examples of apps, sites, and companies that are building on Web 3.0 already, which allows readers to go and check those out if they want further information.
Personally, I really like the existing examples and the drilling-down (but still on a comprehensible-for-me level) into the concept of a token economy, which is I’m adding to my list of “things I need to understand for the future.”
Okay, finally we have an article that opens by speaking a language that I understand. Praise be.
The opening sentence goes,
“Imagine a new type of internet that not only accurately interprets what you input, but actually understands everything you convey, whether through text, voice or other media, one where all content you consume is more tailored to you than ever before.”
I can imagine that! Thank you! You have explained to me the practical implications of what is going in non-web-speak. Blessed be your name, author of this article. May you have 100 fat babies.
Not only that, it talks about technologies, key features, and applications in a way that uses terms I haven’t really understood (“wolfram alpha”? *adds to research list*) but is still comprehensible to me as a total newbie in this world.
5. The Father of Web3 Wants You To Trust Less
Yay, Wired Magazine! I know you! I trust you! Possibly to the disgust of the guy being interviewed in this article (see article title for reference), buuuuut details.
This article is an edited-down version of an interview with Gavin Wood, who (according to the article) coined the term Web3 in 2014. It’s an inside look at the goals and motivations of the developers and movers of Web 3.0, how Web 3.0 solves Web 2.0’s problems, and offers a hope for the future that Web 2.0 doesn’t.
It’s a much more personal and opinionated article than the straightforward “what the *bleep* is this” of the first four, but I think it provides a really good context for the societal implications of Web 3.0.
Conclusion: The Future Is Coming, and It Is Called Web 3.0
There you have it, folks! Five explanations of Web 3.0 by people who both know and comprehend much more than I do.
All five articles slant in different directions — we go from digital marketing to crypto to developers to another crypto site (albeit one that presents a more comprehensible overview) and then wrap it up with the personal insights of one of Web 3.0’s pioneers.
Web 3.0 is something that I’m really interested in, because I can see it barreling toward us like a tunnel train from Wile E. Coyote and I don’t want to get flattened. It’s coming, and the more you and I understand about what’s happening, the better we’ll be able to take advantage of the future massive shift in the online world.
*pulls train whistle* ONWARD!
