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Comment by duxup

4 years ago

Sorry to get a bit off track:

So is web3 just “ blockchain related things “ ?

I feel like web3 as a term usage has exploded to the point that I’m not sure what people are talking about when they say “web3”.

7 comments

duxup

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victorvosk  4 years ago

Web3 as a concept is decentralization primarily, though it was invented by people championing crypto. The idea that the web can't be censored or controlled by gov't or large corporations. Everyone should be able to easily contribute and maintain web3. The blockchain is the "logical" place for it to live since a blockchain is just a distributed compute and database platform.

There are several massive hurdles to overcome that non-technical people gloss over or flat out don't understand. Even if you store all the data in a distributed database, store all static files in distributed file systems, a single user would still need a single point of entry to access this network. It seems like a centralized DNS like system would still be needed.

Even if there were multiple providers of this DNS like service, it would put the onus on the user to figure it out. This has never historically worked well for the average user. Also, internet access itself is still typically controlled by a few providers given a users area.

The reality is web3 and crypto is putting too much responsibility on the user. Everyone uses gmail and google because its easy and effective and no one cares its centralized. iPhones are popular because they are easy and the average user doesn't care that Apple controls the ecosystem.

beambot  4 years ago

Generally refers to decentralized technologies that somehow benefit from blockchain-like data structures. For example, you can compost these three technologies to build a decentralized webserver.

- Filecoin & AR Weave: decentralized file storage. Spend tokens to store files, earn tokens by storing others' files.

- ENS (Ethereum Name Service): DNS-like system for addresses.

- Smart Contracts of various sorts (e.g. Ethereum): Similar to perpetual AWS lambda functions. Spend tokens to publish & call functions; earn tokens by executing functions.

The blockchain aspect is merely a way to have verifiable incentives without explicit trust between actors.

  • sokoloff  4 years ago

    > you can compost these three technologies to build a decentralized webserver

    I don’t know if you meant “compose” or “compost”, but it works both ways.

    • Dowwie  4 years ago

      Going to need to mulch more carbon-rich material and introduce digital worms to work through the pile

foobarian  4 years ago

I feel like maybe people watched a little too much Silicon Valley and similar shows and some wires got crossed to make people think this is actually a workable mass market idea. IMHO.