The Controversial Web3: Neither the Web nor 3.0

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Text | Chen Xuyi

Source: Shui Ge

Web3 was born with the Metaverse last year, and the popularity has continued to this day. This pair of twins was once considered one of the latest concepts in the current Internet field. The difference is that the Metaverse has gained some places due to its greater operability. The policy recognition of Web3 has been gradually promoted, while Web3 has been continuously controversial since its birth. Controversy about Web3 in the industry is mainly reflected in the unclear definition, blurred boundary, and even the suspicion of excessive hype. We will make some analysis on this.

● What is Web3, and what is the difference between Web2.0 and Web1.0?

As we all know, both Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 are related to the World Wide Web technology because they emerged before the mobile Internet era, an Internet era still dominated by websites.

Web 1.0 is characterized by the fact that most network activities are related to static web pages, which itself is a retrospective and was created to distinguish Web 2.0, which refers to the first stage of the development of the World Wide Web. The approximate time from 1991-2004. During this period, there were few content creators, platform editors were the main productivity, and users were just consumers of content.

Web2.0 has greatly expanded the interactivity of websites. The emergence of online communities, social networking sites, blogs, and Wikis has enriched the technical components of the World Wide Web to a certain extent. . The prosperity brought by 2.0 continued into the mobile internet period, expanding this state from the World Wide Web to many aspects of the Internet, including mobile terminals and applications in the cloud era, and it continues to this day.

We will mention the traditional concept of Web3.0 later, and the more popular concept was proposed by Gavin Wood, co-founder of Ethereum in 2014, and will be accepted by blockchain cryptocurrency practitioners, blockchain Continued attention from tech companies and VCs. According to what the field says and what the so-called Web3 Foundation envisions, Web3 promises to be a decentralized, immutable version of the web, without middlemen, and built with the same cryptographic verification capabilities that have produced New applications supported by distributed ledgers or Dapps, such as cryptocurrencies, unforgeable tokens (NFTs), etc.

● A review of the history of Web3.0

It was obviously not 2014 when Web 3.0 was first proposed. When people know Web 2.0, they must look forward to Web 3.0. Looking back we can find some clues.

In May 2006, Tim Berners-Lee, the father of the World Wide Web, mentioned his views on Web 3.0: “When SVG is used on a large scale on the basis of Web 2.0, everything is corrugated and folded. And it looks like there are no water chestnuts, and a whole Semantic Web covers a lot of data, and you have access to this incredible resource of data.”

In November 2006, Yahoo Yang Zhiyuan explained at the Technet Summit: Web3.0 will further deepen the network efficiency, is a real public carrier, and the boundaries between professional, semi-professional and consumer are blurring, creating a business and application Program network effects.

Reed Hastings, founder of undefined, briefly defined it at the same summit: “1.0 is dial-up Internet access, with an average bandwidth of 50K, 2.0 is an average bandwidth of 1M, and 3.0 is a 10M bandwidth, full-image network, which feels like Web3.0.”

In August 2007, the then undefined CEO Eric Schmidt expressed his opinion when he was asked about the definition of Web3.0 at the Seoul Digital Forum: the construction method is different, for example, the emergence of Web2.0 responded to AJAX technology, while 3.0 predicted It is a patchwork application with the characteristics of small program and fast dissemination.

● Questions and debates about Web3

It can be seen that the definition of Web 3.0 in the traditional industry is varied, and the concepts are also dazzling, and they are constantly changing with the progress of technology. Many well-known people in the industry even resent the definition of Web 3.0, believing that it is unnecessary marketing. Obviously, the development of traditional Web 3.0 concepts tends to be an extension of World Wide Web technologies, such as the continued development of the Semantic Web, the creation of popular new frameworks, better browsers, greatly improved data security/scalability, and expanded scope of standardization, etc. Wait. And the traditional voice was rarely heard after 2007, replaced by an over-definition of Web 3.0 beyond the boundaries.

In fact, the focus of the current Web3.0 controversy is that it is difficult to define Web3.0 from the perspective of blockchain technology, which is difficult to be widely accepted by the industry, so many viewpoints do not agree with such Web3.0, and they call it a regional Blockchain related “Web3”. Elon Musk even publicly mocked Web3: “Has anyone seen Web3? I didn’t find it.”

The development of the Internet so far, especially the computing power revolution brought about by the development of cloud computing and AI technology in the past decade, has changed many things. In the era of Web2.0, the World Wide Web is still the main content of the Internet, but the mobile Internet era is different. The components of the World Wide Web have been squeezed a lot. Although it is still one of the main components of the Internet, strictly speaking, we cannot put mobile Nearly everything from APP, cloud native, and even blockchain technology to the metaverse belongs to the web system. Therefore, those conceptual definitions that equate Web3 with the next-generation Internet will inevitably be regarded as a stealing of the concept of the World Wide Web and the Internet, as well as excessive industry marketing behavior. Therefore, the conceptual definition of Web3 does not conform to the essence of the Web, nor does it explain the extension and development of Web technology. It more repeats the existing concept realization of Web2.0, and the decentralization of the blockchain is also Utopia without end.

It is obvious to all that the era of the World Wide Web is not in the past and there is still room for it in the future, because the development of Web technology is in the same line and the standards are mature. Although the development is slow but long, the technological progress is relatively stable. In the relatively closed situation of the mobile Internet ecosystem, there is still room for improvement in cross-platform browser technology, and the future of the Semantic Web is no longer a dream. We expect a real, reliable Web3.0 that can truly represent the continuation of World Wide Web technology, not Web3.