The reverberations of Web 3.0
A system is only as perfect as its users. It goes for democracy, road safety and blockchain technology alike, making Web 3.0 as vulnerable as the current 2.0 version. However, the dream is appealing, and the change our society could go through makes the journey worthwhile. Moreover, It is not like we can turn around and go back.
Web 3.0 enters and Society 2.0 follows.
This is the big picture I want to unveil. Not the technology itself, not the products but their impact on the very fabric of our societal nature.
We don’t discuss it enough, or at all, really.
The future Web 3.0 could bring
For now, it seems that Web 3.0 is vaguely described by the sum of it’s disconnected parts, not ready to be merged into a solid picture of the future.
Blockchain and it’s NFTs, metaverse and ideas like DeFi or DAOs give a glimpse of something new on the horizon. Undefined for now, it rightfully tempts our imagination.
We are on the verge of something big and most of us miss it by a football field. Why? Because it is not about the technology, nor the products that will be built on it. It’s simply about trust.
We are at the point of history where technology can reverse our growing subjection to intermediaries of all sorts.
Consider how society works today.
We depend on third-party enforcement and consultancy in pretty much every aspect of our existence. It is so common that we hardly notice it. It is natural that the bank sanctions all our transactions, and that we check opinions about an online shop before we buy anything in it. But we use apps to split the bill at the pub, to check our dates, to go running, to hitchhike, to make decisions for us.
“There’s an app for that” a joke goes. It is not a joke, it’s a purposeful and meticulously implemented plan.
The middleman is always there, and we love it because it takes risks out of the deal. We get something valuable and we give something in return.
It is a dangerous exchange but a natural one for a society that needs to calm its trust issues. Businesses do not hesitate to use it in a profit game. Actually, trust is the most valuable material on the planet. Ask any successful marketeer.
This brings us to the potential of blockchain and the most amazing aspect of it — the concept of autonomous proof. Not by machine that can be tempered with, but by the system itself that registers every decision in a chain of immutable blocks accessible to the public.
For example, it is a perfect proof of ownership. I own it because I received it from someone who in turn received it from someone else. The chain goes on back to the first owner — the creator of the goods, and as long as every step in the chain is known, no fraud is possible.
You know everything, and with blockchain technology so does everyone. Take any deal, write any contract, set any rules and the system will make it unbreakable.
Basically, the entire society becomes a middleman. Therefore no other intermediary is needed.
Such a decentralized system allowing for irrefutable uniqueness could change the very fabric of our social behavior if adopted globally. Imagine the possibilities. No banks as we know it, no overseers needed to share cars, no businesses needed to control the exchange of products. A total dispersion of services, unobstructed flow of goods and no centralized power hold. All this void of any trust issues.
Ultimately, society becomes self-governing by the means of distributed responsibility.
Of course it is not THAT simple. We are not ready. The technology is still in the making and the beautiful system has its flaws, but in the grand scheme of things the gates are open for a revolution that Web 3.0 could bring.
Sadly, it won’t.
The future Web 3.0 will bring
Even if the system is perfect, It is people that corrupt it. However, it is not a battle between good and bad. There is no villain but the business model we live by. It was built to devour for the sole act of devouring, and evil is just a byproduct.
Find opportunities, develop advantages, optimize costs, and meet the quarterly goals.
This is the mantra in pretty much every organization, business or institution. It must be. How else would anyone survive in the predatory economy?
Turn everything into profit, and make it beat last year’s.
Believe it or not, the potential value of the digital transformation is already duly noted by the top CEOs, and if there is a lesson to be learnt from Web 2.0 it is this — whoever builds the foundation, will monopolize the market.
Imagine having the first email provider, first domain registrar, first web browser before the internet took off.
As you read it, millions pour into development of technology and products that will build the foundation of Web 3.0. It is done in deathly silence but the consequences roar in the ether.
In the end, we will get Web 3.0 but it may very well be centralized around the same big players we have now, always hidden behind a beautiful interface and all the caring slogans, giving us a smooth experience in exchange for total control.
It is not, obviously, a sealed deal, as there are always different forces at play.
What is very likely, however, is the age of turmoil that lies ahead. Just like in the past, before web 2.0, we were in the unknown zone of endless possibilities.
That is a perfect ground for scams, costly mistakes, bizzare flops, legislation roller coasters, power grabs, and all sorts of brave ideas that won’t be. All in high-speed with big money trying to fill the investment void as fast as possible.
I say we are in for a ride in the next 2–3 years. After that stability arises, as the battle cries move out of our sight to be more cynical and merciless. Then, we will get to know which future has come to pass.
Society 2.0 and the lazy dream
Have you noticed how lazy we have become in the vast pool of endless data? It is a special kind of laziness. The one invented, optimized and dosed with smooth user experience of the web. We are living in the age of simplifying, and it’s slowly leading us into an addiction.
Late web 2.0 is all about the unobstructed flow of small and simple decisions moving us from roused interest to check-outs in an almost drug-induced way.
It is a global experiment in short-term will manipulation without threatening test subjects’ sense of freedom. Guess who built that lazy dream, and how our addiction to familiarity will be used against us in Web 3.0.
The profit, again, propels the machine. It is a terrifying vision but a new Web brings new entities too. One is eerily peculiar. It has existed for millenia, vague in reality and exaggerated in movies, but with the technology of Web 3.0 it will become truly and fully operational.
It is not easy to describe mass hysteria with a purpose, concentrated actions by random agents, or maximal efficiency from idea-bind societies.
The Internet is a great organizer, and Web 3.0 will be a catalyst for all those initiatives that spontaneously emerge from the friction of the masses.
Imagine 4chan, Anonymous and Reddit rallies fully submerged in a metaverse civilization. Silly humor aside, we may become society 2.0 with massive, history-changing surges of sudden calls to action by genius strokes of the scattered. Both good and bad.
Scary and awesome at the same time.
So, is Web 3.0 going to be ready-to-use or more like do-it-yourself? Will it be engulfed by proficient profit-hunting giants or tangible fever of the masses?
The solution
Guessing the future is a childish play. Everyone can do it. True prediction requires understanding the present and knowing what influences changes.
Let’s unwind it.
The current level of public knowledge about Web 3.0 or any part of it (including cryptocurrency) is nonexistent. Negligible, near zero.
It may come as a surprise to You — a digital-savvy web user. However, let me give you an even more astounding example of how oblivious the public is.
Did you know 60% of people still do not even recognize the difference between ads and organic results in popular search engines? They use it every day for the past 20 or more years and still have no idea they are clicking ads.
With that in mind, how deep can the knowledge of the public of such a new and diverse technological environment be? How many answer the question about blockchain with a simple “yeah, it’s that Bitcoin stuff, right?’.
How many truly understand the idea of freedom behind it?
What’s more important, how easy will it be for the big players to set the stage for a world-class act of deception where decentralization is sold as a marketing slogan?
I am not optimistic about that one.
So, what’s the cure?
It is a hard pill to swallow, because there is no magical solution to the problem. However, the answer is simple — education. Monotonous process of grinding knowledge, building a discourse, laying the foundation for standardization, spreading awareness and opening the gates to the unaware.
It’s even more arduous given the pushback from agents benefiting off of the lazy dream. Media manipulation is a discipline well trained and deviously exploited by those with funds. To successfully oppose it, means building a united and approachable frontier with long-term goals.
We don’t have that now. The voice is split and incomprehensible to any outsider. There is a massive echo chamber the entire professional society is locked in, the common man locked out. You can not change the society if you do not include the society.
The sad truth is, as the technology is being developed and great ideas are discussed in the opaque mediums of the crypto world, the attention of a common man is being utilized by the mass media to propagate the narration of those behind the lazy dream.
It’s coming. A total control of the narration, followed by a master plan to neutralize every undesired aspect of Web 3.0 that could threaten the current status quo.
And in case you get motivated to work towards consolidating the voice and going out there with a clear and simple message, there is one more obstacle.
The message is only as trusted as the messenger, and trust comes from authority, which probably has a completely different meaning between you and the common man.
On the side note, building trust just in the right spectrum of attention and acceptance range of the masses calls for very specific skills. Actually, classic Web 2.0 marketing skills. Kinda ironic, but as they say, you need to fight fire with fire.
In the end, it is a call to action for all those involved in Web 3.0.
You need to sell what you build. If you don’t, someone else will sell it, and you won’t see a dime.
It goes for money and ideas alike.
