Web technology is one of the spaces that has evolved the most in the last 30 years. When it appeared Web 1.0 about the 90sthis was at the time an innovative tool that gained great importance in the world with the first Internet portals.
Around the year 2000, people began to talk about Web 2.0. by encouraging interaction between web pages and users. Internet is understood at that time as a collaborative platform, in which all users participate.
This is where we find the birth of social networks and an Internet where content prevails more than users.
However, although it is broad in its functionality, the time was coming to take it beyond what was known.
Because of this arose web 3.0. It is known as Internet in the cloud, since much of the content is stored in this way (complex operating systems or large hard drives are eliminated).
From Web 3.0 to Web3: We remove the point
Despite the fact that Web 3.0 emerged in 2006 (although this term was not yet known), it is still undergoing changes, especially with the arrival of bitcoin and blockchain technology in 2008which was a great revolution.
To all this we must add the advances in artificial intelligence, which thanks to the effectiveness of natural language processing and learning algorithms, have led us to a web where machines already understand.
Here we find the promise of a website where the user is once again at the center as creator, but above all as owner. For this reason, the term Web 3.0 is being left aside for Web3, thus establishing a differentiated branch.
Although the term Web 3.0 was coined by Tim Berners-Lee in 2010, it is Gavin Wood in 2014, who is described as the father of Ethereum (co-founder of this cryptocurrency), as the main diffuser of Web3.
And what is blockchain technology?
We understand blockchain technology or protocol as standardized rules that dictate what a system should or should not do. Therefore, in the world of blockchain, these protocols are a set of codes or requests that govern the operation of this technology.
A blockchain protocol can only work if everyone involved in it follows it and works on its levels step by step.
Current blockchain protocols can be classified into three levels:
- Layer 1: This level refers to the fundamental system of a blockchain protocol. Examples of level one protocols include the popular Proof-of-Work (PoW) and Proof-of-Stake (PoS) systems.
- Tier 2 – Builds on Tier 1 and primarily addresses speed and scalability issues. An example of this protocol is Bitcoin Lightning Networkwhich is designed to quickly process Bitcoin transactions.
- Layer 3: This layer deals with the application and execution of a blockchain protocol. Many decentralized applications are layer three protocols. Examples include decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms Uniswap, PancakeSwap, and the NBA Top Shot NFT marketplace.
Thanks to its existence we can carry out transactions with cryptocurrencies. All industry protocols aim to achieve or maintain the four main principles of digital currencies and tokens: decentralization, consistency, security, and scalability.
There are currently different types of blockchain protocols in the world of cryptocurrencies. Although there are hundreds of them, the most recognized are:
- bitcoin: this blockchain protocol revolutionized digital payments. Some of its protocols laid the foundation for cryptocurrency transactions.
- Ethereum: the ethereum protocol It is based on smart contracts, in which transactions are carried out automatically when the criteria established in the network are met.
- Cardan: The emerging cryptocurrency Cardano runs on a protocol known as Ouroboroswhich is designed to reduce energy consumption in cryptocurrency transactions.
- Hyperledger: this caters to companies from different industries and aims to improve business transactions and other financial services.
Taking into account that cryptocurrencies are here to stayHowever, it is only a matter of time before blockchain protocols become more advanced and eventually change the digital currency landscape.
Knowing all this, we can say that Etherum, as the second blockchain protocol, is the most used in the world. Y this technology forms the foundations of Web3.
What does the concept of decentralization mean and why is it the basis of Web3?
Those who speak of Web3 affirm that it will be a more democratic, more open web, where decentralization of services means that anyone can own. It will also be more transparent, because blockchain data is completely open and public, so participants can see what’s going on.
Internet in its beginning was an open and decentralized protocol. It began to be centralized in the 90s with the great technology companies we know today. What you want with Web3 is back to the essenceat the beginning of what was the internet, that no one controls this communication tool that is so present in our day to day to a large extent.
Identity and privacy on this website will be different too. This will be linked to the wallet or digital wallet of the user who participates in it. But at the same time, Web3 is a model where you have to own, you have to own digital assets to participate.
Although all this runs on the physical infrastructure of the internet, communication networks and data centers, the decentralized structure of these blockchain nodes does allow the network to have fewer vulnerabilities.
The recent worldwide crashes of Facebook, now known as Meta, and the continuous hacking of this and other companies have shown the problem of the centralization of services. This seeks to create a more equitable network and take power away from the Internet giants.
What changes then with Web3?
These changes are expected to more power to internet users on the information they access and the data they share and, ultimately, allow the creation of a freer and more egalitarian internet.
But the promise that Web3 will be able to put an end to the hegemony of technological giants like Google or Facebook raises questions. However, there are some like the co-founder of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, who has said that Web3 “it is a centralized entity, but with a different labelor Elon Musk, who recently tweeted the following.
Has anyone seen web3? I can’t find it.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 21, 2021
Despite all this, there are many more who consider that it will update the Internet with a completely new paradigm and much more democratic than Web 2.0 In short, Web3 is the future. A future where many technologies end up converging, and one of them is the blockchain.
There are some like Tim Berners Lee himself, inventor of the well-known WWW that allows us to surf the Internet, who affirm that with Web 2.0 the situation was getting out of hand and that it was necessary a completely new and much more democratic paradigm, where the big companies were left out.
“We’re still in a very, very early phase. All of this is just starting to roll out and is still under construction.”O’Kuingtons explains. “In 2021 we already saw a huge boost with the push of NFTs and metaverses. And in this year, we will see crucial changes, such as the expansion of these technologies, which are nothing other than Web3″.
Looking ahead to 2022 and the following years, new avenues for content creation are expected with the collaboration and facilities that artificial intelligence will bring to all processes.
Users of the new updates that arise on the web will have access to an administration of their activities and a safer and much more intuitive use than what we currently know, generating new business opportunities based on the blockchain, digital finance or development of new technologies that will facilitate the experience of those who use the Internet.
Some even talk about a web 4.0 which would already be totally related to the use of artificial intelligence. Standards or an exact name have not yet been established, but there are clues about how this evolution will be.
It is the Internet of machines that understand humans and learn the more they are used (machine learning). It is the Internet of little bots, of intelligent agents who chat as if they were human, of smart houses, of smart cities…
Some characteristics are mentioned, such as the demise of the seekerswhich will be replaced by virtual assistants who, with just one order, will make for us, for example, a hotel reservation for a certain day.
However, we will have to wait and be attentive to new developments in this sector. Who knows what the future will bring us and how far we will be able to go to reinvent ourselves.