The World is Finally Ready for a New Internet

HackerNoon’s Web2.5 Documentary on the Next-Gen Internet

If you were asked to describe the internet in your own words, how would you respond?

• It’s just life itself - Linh Dao Smooke, HackerNoon Co-owner and COO
• A network that allows for the transfer of data and the connection to people and services - Limarc, former VP Editorial
• The Internet to me is like Dumbledore’s mirror of the Erised, It shows you whatever you want to see - Utsav Jaiswal, VP of Business Development
• The Scallions to a delicious Phở Bò bowl - Kien Dao, Product Designer

However you define the internet, there’s a consensus that it has become an integral part of everyday life. Without discrimination, it mirrors humanity-good, bad, and ugly.

Like everything else in the known universe, the internet has changed in many different ways, from its earliest iterations born in the Cold War to the easily accessible, complex information network we have now.

However, change is not always a good thing. For instance, even though the internet has become infinitely more accessible, it has also become overloaded with noise. Nonetheless, its value today is nondebatable.

The Web 2.5 documentary by HackerNoon explores the evolution of the Internet in 3 stages - Web 1.0 - Web 2.0 - Web 3.0

Web 1.0 centers on the early stages of the Internet. Dial-up modems, limited functionality, endless curiosity. The team recounts their earliest memories of a world just getting its hands on this “fun,” supplemental information network. A time when most people barely had any idea what they were doing. Once upon a time, a certain HackerNoon team member tried to download a graphic card from the internet 💀.

Web 2.0 takes stock of the internet today. There’s no denying that it has been revolutionary. Creating countless jobs, giving us the ability to work from home, and connecting us with people from all around the world. As Limarc Ambalina puts it, we’ve learned a lot about each other, sometimes too much. At the same time there are tons of scathing issues with the internet; scams, hate speech, toxicity, and restrictions on freedom of speech. Further, today’s internet is monetized, and this brings the noise.

On the topic of issues with the current iteration of the internet, Utsav Jaiswal maintains that “everything on the Internet today, has a centralizing tendency towards the fringes. By drowning out the balancing voices/saner thoughts, it builds an echo chamber for us which colors the opinions we already have. The future of the internet needs to make sure that paid bots, shills, and algorithms don’t have as big of an impact as they already do.”

David Smooke, HackerNoon Founder and CEO, believes that the Internet’s evolution has brought us to a point where “the powers that be” all want to take advantage of individuals and resell their information back to them.

Kien Dao, HackerNoon’s Product Designer, points out that Web2 is dated and slower-paced, compared to the rate of technological advancement. In light of this, a new iteration of the web is needed to get us closer to the future.

These are some of the reasons why HackerNoon believes that the world is ready for a new iteration of the internet.

HackerNoon’s Role in the Nex-Gen Internet

In a nutshell to make the internet more pleasant for the average user. And to do this, David highlights, it starts with the second human rule. There’s so much lousy content on the internet, but if a second human looked at it and made it better, the reader and poster would be better off. In addition to long-lasting beef with paywalls, HackerNoon is committed to making quality content available to average users worldwide.

As David puts it;

That’s where we live between social media and the traditional Forbes of the world, bringing you a high-quality tech story without all the noise.

Is Web3 the New Internet We Need?

Through this story, we’ve established that the current version of the Internet, while life-changing, has run its course. The world is ready for a new internet. But, what will it look like?

Is Web3 really the future, or is it a passing trend hyped up by bad actors?