Hello subs! Thank you to the first 7 of y’all who’ve joined Cryptalks on the journey of learning about the future. Really stoked to have y’all!
I’m going to keep these reads byte-sized so y’all keep coming back for more. I intend to talk about all things crypto and web3 starting with the very basics. To kick it off, we start with learning about ‘Web 3.0’. Why? Because that’s how it all started for cryptocurrencies. Or vice-versa. It’s like the chicken and the egg story. Most people don’t know what came first.
Anyway, wtf is web 3.0? Talking directly about web 3.0 would be the equivalent of learning how to drive a Formula 1 car when you can barely drive a Go-kart. So let’s briefly go over the previous versions of the web i.e 1.0 and 2.0, understand what they brought to the table and then slowly move to web 3.0.
Web 1.0
Web 1.0 was the first iteration of the internet as we know it and of course the most boring. The web 1.0 era i.e 1991 to 2004, is referred to as Syntactic web or ‘read only’ web. The websites were mostly static where the role of users was just reading information provided by a limited number of content creators. That was the case because it’s what content creators at the time wanted to do. The only use of a website for them was to make information available to more people. There was no way for the readers to interact with the content creators or each other. It was almost like people/businesses took a pamphlet or a catalogue and made a copy of it on the internet. Users were just consumers.
Web 2.0
2004 saw the World wide web shift from 1.0 to 2.0. Also known as Social web, 2.0 is the version of web we’ve been experiencing uptil now. Web 2.0 gave emphasis to users to create their own content, collaborate, interact and build an online presence. We saw some great companies establish themselves during this period. Some of the early examples are Facebook, YouTube and Amazon. Building an online business became easier and we’ve seen thousands of them start fresh or scale their businesses through the web.
Web 2.0 gave the users a chance to express themselves by allowing them to voice their opinions, perspectives and beliefs through various platforms but (there’s always a but in everything that sounds too good isn't there?) there is one disadvantage (ehm… major disadvantage). While Web 2.0 gave us all those incredible things, it also took something very valuable from us. Data privacy.
Behemoths like Google, Facebook and Twitter started storing our data in their servers. This was done in order to learn about their users (us) through machine learning and provide us with a more personalised experience which would keep us on their platform for longer inturn earning these centralised companies more money. The greed did not stop there. Eventually, they started selling this data to other companies.
We are no longer buying products on the internet. We are the product!
Web 3.0
Don’t worry though, just like every story, ours has a hero who’ll rescue us from the shackles of these companies. Introducing Web 3.0. This version of the web is also known as the Semantic web. Web 3.0 aims to create a decentralised and secure version of the internet where users can exchange money and information amongst other things without having a need for an intermediary like these big tech companies.
Unlike Web 2.0, the data is not stored in servers. Web 3.0 makes use of blockchain technology where each node (device like the computer/phone you are using to read this) works in tandem to form a virtual server. This is the dumbed down version of blockchain technology. More on this in the next newsletter so stay tuned!
According to web3 specialists, while users had become the products in the previous version, users in web3 will become owners of the content they produce. Companies and corporations will be run by decentralised groups working as a DAO (Decentralised Autonomous Organisation) replacing the hierarchical structure that exists today. Finance will become decentralised where banks don’t have all the power. Artists will have the freedom to express themselves and sell their art directly to buyers and keep 100% of the proceeds.
These are the ideas amongst many others that have been explored and the possibilities with web3 are endless. We’ll discuss all of them in this newsletter in the following editions so stay tuned.
Happy reading y’all, I’ll see you on the next one.
PS - The newsletters will hit your inbox every Tuesday morning. I fudged this one up so you’ll get this one on a Friday.
Lovely stuff Karan. Keep it up