The future is here - it is just not evenly distributed.
_________________________________ William Gibson

Recently, Elon Musk tweeted that Web 3.0 is not yet around and he stated that the word Web 3.0 seems like a marketing buzzword. Elon Musk is a successful businessman, a smart and knowledgeable person. Does he think Web 3.0 is just a marketing buzzword? It's not easy to know his true inspiration. I think his main motivation is to attract attention. In the post-truth era, making controversial claims has become one of the methods of staying on the agenda. gamechanger

On the other hand, Elon Musk has expressed the feelings of many people. Until recently, I also thought the phrase Web 3.0 was a marketing slogan because at first glance it seems that way.

I think Web 3.0 is not a buzzword. After a little research, I was able to come up with a very plausible picture of Web 3.0. Especially reading @taskmaster4450's posts helped me to have a clear perspective on this issue.

Below is a simplified diagram of the evolution of the Web from the end-user perspective.

Web 1.0 - Read
Web 2.0 - Read and Write
Web 3.0 - Read, Write and Own

We can say that Web 3.0 is basically about decentralization. Decentralized infrastructures enable users' wider participation, posing a threat to Web 2.0 monopolies. The use of blockchain technologies minimizes the need to trust each other to collaborate. Thus, the need for traditional technology companies, banks, and similar institutions that mediate the trust becomes obsolete.

There is no obstacle for us to invest in Web 2.0 technology companies that are listed on the stock market, similar to crypto projects. However, in its current form, participation mostly takes the form of being a small investor. Moreover, a technology company does not create the opportunity to invest separately in its sub-projects. We can own stocks of a company that produces games. However, as a sci-fi enthusiast, I can't invest in sci-fi games or even a specific character in these games.

One criticism of Web 3.0 projects is that they serve venture capital firms. Although there is some truth in these criticisms, as time progresses, the number of coin offerings following fair launch principles is increasing.

Some people consider three-dimensional world simulations to be among the features of Web 3.0 platforms. Although some of the Metaverse environments and Play-to-Earn games have such a feature, I do not think that this feature is the distinguishing feature of Web 3.0.

Web 3.0 enables users to exert greater influence on design, development, and management. Web 3.0 infrastructures allow dozens of projects to emerge and develop at the same time, as seen in the Hive example. I have never witnessed such productivity in a non-permissionless environment. Because it does not seem possible for any central organization to be able to cope with such a workload, even if it delegates a lot of authority.

This is why it is not easy for the cryptoverse to be subject to legal regulations. At the root of the problem lies the inability of hierarchical structures to meet the needs of the age. Blockchain technology enabled anarchism, the most idealistic political order, to cease to be a utopia. The popular concepts of the cryptoverse and the anarchist understanding expressed in Kropotkin's works almost exactly overlap.

I would like to set aside the relationship between anarchism and crypto for another article and return to the concept of Web 3.0. We are entering a new era in which communities and collective ownership come to the fore in the digital world. In this period, characterized by thousands of large and small ventures, each of which can be considered an experiment, the large institutions began to lose power. New generations want to work in environments where horizontal relations replace hierarchical structures.

Which crypto projects are categorized as Web 3 can also give us an idea in this regard. Messari research company categorized 49 coins in the Web3 category. Hive is ranked 15th on this list by market share. Messari added blockchains operating in areas such as content creation and distribution, data management, file storage, shared compute, AI under the title of Web 3. Coinmarketcap also considered similar coins within the scope of Web3, but unlike Messari, it also included Polkadot in the list.

As we can see, there is no complete agreement on the definition of Web 3.

Conclusion

I think the distinguishing feature of Web 3.0 is decentralized infrastructure and user participation, including ownership of coins, tokens, NFTs, etc. It is difficult to argue that all blockchain networks are close to this ideal. In many blockchain ecosystems, the consensus is achieved through co-founder-controlled nodes. DAOs are just being set up. Hive is ahead of many blockchain networks when it comes to compliance with Web 3.0 values. The future is here, and we have been experiencing it for some time now.

Thank you for reading.

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