The Next Big Thing: Blockchain Technology and Web 3.0

Quote of The Day

"Every time I witness a strong person, I want to know: What dark did you conquer in your story? Mountains do not rise without earthquakes.”

—

Unknown

Introduction

Great minds often tend to change the whole world with just one invention. We would still send pigeons on errands, since they were used in Greece 3000 years ago to declare the winner of the Olympics abroad, or sit by a candle or write a letter to connect with a friend, as opposed to locking pick up your smartphone and log into Facebook to contact a friend, if it weren’t for certain inventions that were so incredible they had enough impact to change the entire world forever.

Lukas Foss said: “It is obvious that everything a scientist discovers or invents is based on previous discoveries and inventions.” The same applies to Blockchain and Web 3.0. We humans have actively built the future with our actions based on what we think we need and how more efficient we can be.

If history has taught us anything, it’s that change will always have a significant impact. In this piece, I explore the future of Web 3.0 and Blockchain technology and why they matter.

Blockchain

The word that seems to be on everyone’s lips these days. One of the greatest technologies since the internet, a revolutionary technology that will reshape the future of the internet. All industries will undergo a radical shift in the next few years due to this technology called blockchain. A network that allows each client on it to reach a consensus without having to trust each other. Still, we don’t understand blockchain to a degree where we can understand all the ideas about it.

To date, technology has been the domain of computer programmers, experts and managers in our world. When the Internet came, it came as a technology of centralized authority, but blockchain is different. Blockchain is a technology that will democratize the world’s technological ecosystem, meaning that each user will have power over their own data because members of the community will own and operate the infrastructure used for data storage and processing. This will take control from the authorities or corporate bodies.

Perhaps the simplest way to think of blockchain is that it harkens back to the original digital ideal of pure democracy, but incorporates security protocols that reduce the forces favoring consolidation of the gatekeepers. In short, it is the architecture that makes good on the original vision.

“While the internet is for information, the blockchain is for value”

Web 3.0

Currently, there is no official definition for web 3.0, but this era of the web is the next evolution of internet services for websites and applications. This is the web that will be powered by AI, Blockchain, IoT, 5G, Metaverse, NFTs, Cryptocurrencies all together.

It will be a new version of the web that enables a decentralized economy, as it removes the reliance on a central authority to manage the network, instead replacing it with a distributed consensus managed by many.

Web 3.0 will bring the era of decentralized apps (DApps) running on peer-to-peer networks with tokens to reward users, they are free to use and can be improved by anyone in the community. This space is still new and improving. However, new DApps are built every day, they share these main characteristics. The;

1. Is open source
2. Is incentivized (tokens)
3. Block chain hit
4. Is decentralized
5. Use smart contracts

This is from Wikipedia on decentralization of the Internet;
“The idea proposes the reorganization of the Internet to remove centralized data hosting services, using instead a peer-to-peer infrastructure. Interest in the decentralized web arose due to the lack of trust in network maintenance organizations, due to scandals involving widespread espionage and content control.”

Tokens are to Web3 what websites were to Web1

The future

Before blockchain can become ubiquitous, it must first mature. At the same time, companies need to start thinking about and planning their blockchain strategy right away. Just as the Internet is a means of sharing information, blockchain technologies can be seen as a way to introduce the next level: sharing value.

The period we are now experimenting with blockchain technology is like the early days of the internet, experimenting now to revolutionize how the world works later. The transition to a truly decentralized web will take time. We need to put the pieces of the decentralized internet together and allow our perceptions to change.

This decade will perhaps be one of the most incredible times we’ve ever seen because of the amount of change that has happened in the last 30 years and will potentially happen in the next two decades, which I believe should redefine this generation as change makers and dreamers.

I 100% expect this article to be out of date or missing information because of how much more new stuff will come out in the near future and to me that is one of the most exciting things about Web 3.0 and this new technology called blockchain and how it will affect everyone’s future.

Conclusion

The thing about great inventions like this is that we don’t know what the future holds for them at their early stage. We only have the hindsight years later to fully understand their growth and impact on us. Hindsight is easy, foresight is very difficult. Let’s take a look at some of the past inventions that revolutionized our world;

1. The Printing press in the 15th century; Before the invention of the printing press, good learning and knowledge were only available to the privileged in society. The printing press was invented and completely closed the learning and knowledge gap.
2. The Steam machine came and changed the way we work. The labor and the production process were largely carried out by slaves. The invention of the steam engine helped drastically reduce slavery and colonialism.
3. Our favorite invention, the Internet, which started 60 years ago, came and revolutionized the information sector and the way we communicate, the world is now much smaller than it was 60 years ago.

I see blockchain and web 3.0 as the printing press, the steam engine and the internet of our time. To wrap this up, let’s imagine a world where;

• You control your own money, not the banks.
• You can send money to anyone, anywhere in the world, at almost no cost and almost instantly.
• Blockchain technology will be used for voter registration, identity verification and electronic vote counting to ensure that only legitimate votes are counted and no votes are altered or removed, making elections fairer and more democratic when election results are displayed on a public immutable ledger.
• Blockchain can help to streamline and make it safer to hand out welfare, unemployment benefits etc. to the public because it is available and verifiable on the system.
• A world where health centers can store medical records securely on the blockchain and share them only with authorized doctors or patients. This will improve data security and may even help improve the accuracy and speed of diagnosis.

Guess what, we already live in that world. That is what Blockchain and Web 3.0 are already doing. The possibilities of these technologies are endless. This is the future, and where we go from here is really up to all our imaginations.