Hayduke’s mission lies at the intersection of many different disciplines. A FAQ is in order. So this is one of a series of FAQ posts exploring basic concepts with examples to as to set the table for Hayduke’s approach to the design space.
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What’s Web3? It’s a vision for a different kind of internet, one that is less rapacious of our data and privacy, one that doesn’t rely on the whim of narcissistic billionaires, one that isn’t controlled by companies who literally treat their users as the product.
How to we get from here to there?
Web3, or Web 3.0, represents the next phase of the internet, emphasizing decentralization, user control, and enhanced privacy. To understand Web3, it’s helpful to compare it with the current web structure, often referred to as Web2.
Web2 is our current internet, characterized by tech giants driving the majority of internet traffic through their closed platforms, harvesting vast amounts of user data via a myriad of intermediaries to feed the online advertising and e-commerce universe. The key features which enable this behavior are:
Centralization – Most of the current internet services are centralized, meaning they are controlled by a few large companies like Google, Facebook, and Amazon. Centralized actors can be and are “rent-takers,” profiting not off what they provide, but simply because they are one of the few doors to convenient services.
User Data – In Web2, user data is collected, stored, and often monetized by these central entities. Users have limited control over their data. Personal data harvesting is familiar to most of us. The quickening development of AI and LLM’s (Large Language Modules) have accelerated and broadened data collection for AI training. The end user is forced to “Consent” to giving up their data and data rights as a term of service for the platform itself.
Services – Most internet services in Web2 are provided through centralized platforms, which act as intermediaries between users and the services they use. Services run the gamut from the basic word processing, email, file storage to media access services to the myriad types of social media through text, image and video.
So what of Web3?
Decentralization – Web3 aims to decentralize control over the services that platforms have locked up, distributing it across a network of nodes. This means no single entity has control over the entire network and the services it can provided.
Blockchain Technology – Web3 relies heavily on blockchain, a distributed ledger technology that ensures transparency and security without a central authority.
Smart Contracts – These are self-executing programs with the terms directly written into code. They automatically enforce rules and agreements, reducing the need for intermediaries.
User Control – In Web3, users have greater control over their data. They can decide who can access it and how it can be used.
So let’s put these differences into a simple story. Imagine a social media platform built on Web3 principles. Instead of a company like Facebook owning your data and vastly profiting from selling it, you would have control over your posts and photos. If you want to share a photo, you do so directly from your digital wallet, and only the people you choose can see it. The platform itself operates on a blockchain, ensuring transparency and security.
Key Differences
Control – Web2 is controlled by central authorities; Web3 distributes control among network users, providing strong incentives and automated mechanisms for correct operation. It is often described as “trustless” in that it doesn’t require trusting the platform because no entity has control of the platform(s).
Data Ownership – In Web2, companies own user data; in Web3, users own their data and control who can do what can be done with it and by whom.
Service Resilience – open decentralization provides a level of resilience beyond centralized Web2 platforms despite innovations in cloud services and redundancy practices. The rate of application outages is rising, with 2024 tracking an 8% increase over 2023.
This is a vastly simplified introduction to Web3. It is still evolving, but its potential to create more user-centric, private, and secure internet services is significant. Many of comparative improvements are heavily dependent on how the technology and application are designed. In other words, not all blockchains or smart contracts are necessarily decentralized, in which case they’re not Web3.
But it’s not the label that its important. Rather, it’s a technical architecture that could empower a range of networked services that can operate amid political, economic and or ecological disruption. Look for the FAQ on the Climate Emergency for more on the fit between decentralized technology and design space for it.
As an aside, I take some issue with the “3.0” as progressivist, of which I am always wary. Continual improvement is folly against the 2rd law of thermodynamics. Value/Utility is a relative measure based on the goal, it’s not intrinsic. The same applies to nostalgia for the simpler internet of 20 years ago. I was in college “telnetting” into coke machines in Japan during my graveyard shift at the compute lab. The golden past is just as tarnished as the golden future; they’re just stories. “One of the dangerous things about the story of progress is that we don’t think it’s a story. We think it’s the truth.”