For the past few months, we’ve been hearing about Web3, this futuristic vision of the Internet that aims to revolutionize our browsing habits. But what is it exactly?
The concept is vague, but we hear it everywhere and more and more. Based on cryptocurrencies, NFTs and more generally the blockchain, Web3, or Web 3.0 would succeed Web 2.0, which until now had been a benchmark, to the point of becoming an expression of everyday language.
And 1, and 2, and 3.0
To better understand the concept of Web3, we must first go back to Web 1.0, that of the beginnings of the internet, which at the time was just a simple dematerialized information portal, where it was possible to access static pages, and whose design was not always attractive. From the 2000s, the birth of Web 2.0 saw the emergence with it the idea of a participatory internet. Via social networks, forums and everyday services, we no longer simply consult web pages, we interact with them. The advent of the Wikipedia encyclopedia in particular, consecrated with it the idea of a common virtual memory, in which each Internet user can participate.
It is therefore logical that Web 3.0, or Web 3, stands out as the evolution of 2.0. At the origin of the concept, we find the computer scientist Gavin Wood, creator of Ethereum and founder of the Web3 foundation, which supports decentralized technology projects. Here, it is no longer simply a question of interacting, but of transform the Internet user into a link of the global internet.
Decentralize information
Because this is where all the innovation of Web3 lies: for many defenders of the project, the web is today in the hands of a few powerful players (the GAFAMs) who centralize and control almost all web pages, and possess astronomical amounts of personal information about users. To rebalance the balance, it would thus be necessary empower internet users, by decentralizing information. Concretely, it would be a question of eliminating the big tech companies, by rebuilding the Web from a blockchain.
NFT, crypto and blockchain
Today, the blockchain is mainly used in the context of cryptocurrency exchanges, and more recently NFT, these unique non-fungible tokens. However, its scope could be much broader. In addition to not requiring any intermediary, the blockchain is also very secure: stored on the servers of its users, it is based on a cryptographic validation system. Each exchange must therefore be validated by Internet users.becoming in theory inviolable.
I’m not suggesting web3 is real – seems more marketing buzzword than reality right now – just wondering what the future will be like in 10, 20 or 30 years. 2051 sounds crazy futuristic!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 20, 2021
If Web3 still suffers from many detractors, including Elon Musk who even called the project a “marketing buzzword”, Web3 could therefore revolutionize our use of the Internet, by positioning users as web links rather than as simple interlocutors with whom large tech companies interact. A concept that is beginning to materialize, but which will still have to prove itself in order to establish itself in our daily lives.