An Intro to Web 3.0 and The Future of the Internet

For the past 30 years, since CERN launched the first website, the web has been morphing at a rapid rate. Not only does the technology that lets developers create websites and apps change, but also the way we associate with the web. The way humans have adapted to the web has also shaped the direction in which the web has moved. Web 3.0 is the latest iteration of the internet. What is Web 3.0 and how will it affect our lives? We take a look. Salient features of Web 3.0 Semantic Web Tim Berners-Lee coined the term early on, but his vision remained unfulfilled. It looks like his dream of a web that completely understands the user would come true after all. Semantic, in this case, means understanding the way humans speak. We don’t ask our neighbor—“did you see the basketball game yesterday between the Miami Heat and Dallas Mavericks at 8 PM EST on the 10th of April 2022”! We frame it as—“did you watch Jimmy Butler sink one in the last minute?” Won’t it be wonderful if the web could understand you and the context of your words as easily? AI-Assisted Semantic Web can hardly happen unless the web incorporates AI. There is large-scale deep integration of AI by the big apps such as Instagram (Deep Text) and Google Maps (did you note predicts the fastest route at the drop of a hat). However, beyond a chatbot with canned answers, such technology is not available to an ordinary someone creating an app. AI would become more easily accessible, and with Web 3.0, open-source AI algorithms can be downloaded off the shelf. Increased Personalization Most web users are tired of irrelevant and useless search suggestions. There needs to be more personalization to curate the billions of web pages out there properly. Web 3.0 promises to be more customized. The most interesting factor is its blend with Metaverse, the brainchild of Mark Zuckerberg. Metaverse is an immersive 3D world where you in many ways create your own reality. Nothing can be more personal than a personal universe! Metaverse application development focuses on Web 3.0 just as its forerunner Facebook was the catalyst for Web 2.0. A Metaverse application in healthcare could revolutionize the way doctors treat patients. The scope for Metaverse applications in education is even greater and can entirely replace the traditional classroom environment. The difference between Web 1.0, Web 2.0, and Web 3.0 Web 1.0 Web 1.0 was the static web. Someone generated content and put it out there. Others read it. The relationship was very much like that between a novelist and his readers. Most business websites (not e-commerce sites) are good examples of Web 1.0 content. The same goes for news sites owned by media giants. It is “Read Only” and there is no way to interact apart from an almost hidden comments section. This first stage existed between 1992 and 2004 and spanned the years between the launch of the first website and the launch of Facebook. It’s not that Web 1.0 has gone away. There are plenty of Web 1.0 sites doing remarkably well. The Encyclopedia Britannica is a great example. Web 2.0 Web 2.0 is the interactive web. on Web 1.0 was in the hands of a few. With Web 2.0, it passed to everyone who had a net connection. Content creation Soon housewives were sharing chocolate chip cookie recipes on YouTube and everyone posting an opinion about politics and global warming on Facebook. Web 2.0 was the democratization of the net. When the power of content creation passed to the users, the way we interacted with information changed vastly. Think of Wikipedia and how different it is from Encyclopedia Britannica. An encyclopedia that anyone can edit! It seemed like a pie in the sky idea if you asked anyone back in 2001. Anyone can write false information and deface it. But not so in reality, since others wrote back the correct info and banned the miscreant instantly. Of course, Wikipedia is not reliable or accurate when it comes to topics that are hot-button but if you want to know more about the biggest or best or fastest plane in the world without spending a dime, it’s perfect. Web 3.0 is a development of Web 2.0. The big difference is that it is going to be decentralized. The most valuable web properties are owned by billion-dollar corporations. They provide what appears to be a free service. In truth, they are benefiting from the information they gather. Whereas Web 1.0 was “Read Only” and Web 2.0 was “Read-Write” the latest generation of the web would be “Read-Write-Own”. Core Ideas behind Web 3.0 The 2016 Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal was probably the watershed moment that Web 3.0 was born. The web had become corrupt, and the people needed to take back their power. While no one can exactly define what Web 3.0 means, they all agree it is a place where there is more freedom and greater data security. Decentralization The power is concentrated in the hands of a few right now. If you don’t abide by the rules, you can get kicked out of the web. That is hardly democratic and the perfect way to stifle any opposition to dissent. Web 3.0 will be decentralized. No one can delete an account because there is no central server to delete it from. A copy resides on millions of computers across the world. Tokenized would not use any traditional currency. Physical currency, even if it is in digital form, can be tracked and that belies the original promise of the internet—anonymity. Web 3.0 applications Crypto has now gained respect and is no longer a buzzword. Virtual currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum will be the dollar and pound of the brave new web. Moreover, you don’t need to have an email ID anymore to log into a website on Web 3.0. Just use a crypto token. Control Lack of user control over data is the biggest issue on the internet. Every time we make a purchase or share a post, we hand over a bit more about ourselves to unscrupulous data merchants. Web 3.0 dispenses with personal identity altogether. No one can be harassed or bullied or banned because no one knows who is behind a username. And if data comes from anonymous users who might have a dozen different IDs, what use is data gleaned from their web activity? The future of Web 3.0 Not a fad. Not a buzzword. Web 3.0 is here to stay. That is true beyond any doubt. Is it in a nascent stage? Of course. No one can provide you with the contours for the next few years. But movement is happening and early adopters are shifting to the new web. It will be open and it will be yours. How soon that will happen depends on the speed at which technology evolves.