The Next Big Thing: Blockchain Technology and Web 3.0

Quote of The Day

"Every time I witness a strong person, I want to know: What dark did you conquer in your story? Mountains do not rise without earthquakes.”

—

Unknown

Introduction

Great minds often tend to change the whole world with just one invention. We would still be sending pigeons on errands, as they were successfully used in Greece 3000 years ago to declare the winner of the Olympics abroad, or sitting by a candle or writing a letter to get in touch with a friend, as opposed to unlocking your smartphone and logging into Facebook to contact a friend, if it wasn’t for certain inventions that were so incredible that had enough impact to change the whole world forever.

Lukas Foss said, “It is obvious that anything a scientist discovers or invents is based on previous discoveries and inventions." The same applies to Blockchain and Web 3.0. We humans, have been actively building the future with our actions based on what we think we need and how more efficient we can be.

If history has taught us anything, it is that change will always have a significant impact. In this piece, I explore the future of Web 3.0 and Blockchain Technology and why they matter.

Blockchain

The word that seems to be on everyone's lips these days. One of the biggest technologies since the internet, a revolutionary technology that will remake the future of the internet. Every industry is set to undergo a radical shift in the next few years because of this technology called blockchain. A network that allows every client on it to reach a consensus without having to trust each other. Yet we do not understand blockchain to an extent where we can grasp all the ideas about it.

To date, technology has been a domain of computer programmers, experts, and leaders in our world. When the Internet came, it came as a technology of centralized authority, but blockchain is different. Blockchain is a technology that will democratize the world's tech ecosystem, meaning, each user will have power over their own data because members of the community will own and operate the infrastructure used for storage and computing. This would take control away from the government or corporate bodies.

The easiest way to think of blockchain, perhaps, is that it goes back to the original digital ideal of pure democracy but incorporates security protocols that reduce the forces favouring consolidation of the gatekeepers. In short, it is the architecture that makes good on the original vision.

“While the internet is for information, the blockchain is for value”

Web 3.0

At the moment, there is no official definition for web 3.0 but this era of the web is the next evolution of the internet services for websites and applications. This is the web that will be powered by AI, Blockchain, IoT, 5G, Metaverse, NFTs, Cryptocurrencies all combined.

It will be a new version of the web that enables a decentralized economy, as it removes the dependency on a central authority for managing the network, instead, replacing it with a distributed consensus managed by many.

Web 3.0 will bring the era of decentralized apps (DApps) that run on peer-to-peer networks with tokens to reward users, they are free to use and can be improved by anyone in the community. This space is still new and improving. However, new DApps are being built every day, they share these major characteristics. They;

1. Are Open source
2. Are Incentivized (Tokens)
3. Run-on Blockchain
4. Are Decentralized
5. Use Smart Contracts

This is from Wikipedia about decentralizing the Internet; “The idea proposes the reorganization of the Internet to remove centralized data hosting services, using instead a peer-to-peer infrastructure. Interest in the decentralized web arose due to the lack of trust in network maintenance organizations, due to scandals involving widespread espionage and content control.”

Tokens are to Web3 what websites were for Web1

The Future

Before blockchain can become ubiquitous, it must first mature. At the same time, businesses must begin thinking about and planning their blockchain strategy right away. Just as the Internet is a means of sharing information, so blockchain technologies can be seen as a way to introduce the next level: sharing value.

The period we are now in experimenting blockchain technology is like the early days of the internet, experimenting now to revolutionize how the world works later. The transition to a truly decentralized web will take time. We must put the pieces of the decentralized internet together and allow our perceptions to shift.

This decade, perhaps, will be one of the most incredible times we have ever seen because of the amount of change that has happened over the last 30 years and that potentially will happen over the next two decades, which I believe should redefine this generation as change-makers and dreamers.

I am 100% expecting this article to be obsolete or lacking information because of how much more new things will come out in the near future, and to me, that’s one of the most exciting things about Web 3.0 and this new technology called blockchain and how it will impact everyone’s future.

Conclusion

The thing about great inventions like this is that we don’t know what the future is going to become of them at their early stage. We only have hindsight years later to fully understand their growth and impact on us. Hindsight is easy, foresight is very difficult. Let us take a look at some of the past inventions that revolutionized our world;

1. The Printing Press in the 1400s; Before the invention of the printing press, sound learning and knowledge were only available to the privileged in society. The printing press was invented and completely closed the learning and knowledge gap.
2. The Steam Engine came and changed how we work. The labour work and manufacturing process were largely done by slaves, The invention of the steam engine helped to drastically reduce slavery and colonialism.
3. Our favorite invention, the Internet, which started 60 years ago, came and revolutionized the information sector and the way we communicate, the world is now a lot smaller than it was 60 years ago.

I see blockchain and web 3.0 as the printing press, the steam engine, and the internet of our time. To end this, let us imagine a world where;

• You control your own money, not banks.
• You can send money to anyone, anywhere in the world, for almost no cost and almost instantly.
• Blockchain technology will be used for voter registration, identity verification, and electronic vote counting to ensure that only legitimate votes are counted and no votes are changed or removed, making elections fairer and more democratic, when electoral results are viewed on a publicly immutable ledger.
• Blockchain can help to streamline and make it more secure to distribute welfare, unemployment benefits, etc. to the public because it is accessible and verifiable on the system.
• A world where healthcare centers can store medical records safely on the blockchain and only share them with authorized doctors or patients. This will improve data security and can even help improve the accuracy and speed of diagnosis.

Guess what, we are already living in that world. That is what Blockchain and Web 3.0 are already doing. The possibilities of these technologies are endless. This is the future, and where we go from here is really up to all of our imaginations.