We all know that Web3 is the next step in the evolution of the web, but let’s take a more detailed look at what exactly that means. Web1 No one really calls the initial version of the web “Web1,” but I’ll use this naming convention for all three (Web1, Web2, Web3) just to make it clearer for readers. The (World Wide) Web was created around 1990 by Tim Berners-Lee, a computer scientist at CERN.

With the launch of Lens and Farcaster, Web3 Social has gained more awareness and recognition, at least in the web3 space. No one knows exactly how it will play out, but many of us agree that we need to move away from web2 social for various reasons. One of these reasons is that big web2 social platforms are unable to efficiently defend against spam bots. Instead, their algorithmic defense systems often mistakenly suspend legitimate new accounts, and relying on customer support to resolve it is a pipe dream.

Recently, I listened to Kartik’s fireside chat with Vitalik at ETH Waterloo 2023. During their conversation, Vitalik raised an interesting point that despite being over a decade into the crypto revolution, everyday crypto payments are still not as user-friendly as they could be. Imagine the convenience of paying for a cup of coffee or effortlessly sending a small payment to a friend who covered the restaurant bill. Vitalik emphasized the need for a simpler system, one that could easily integrate with QR codes and mobile devices.

Stick In 2022, OpenSea introduced a solution to “encourage” NFT marketplaces to charge royalty fees. Any marketplace that would not comply, would get blacklisted. In the carrot-stick terms, this is the “stick” approach. The way OpenSea’s solution works is by requiring NFT contracts to include a significant amount of extra code for enforcing royalties. This leads to a larger codebase, higher gas costs, and the potential for bugs as the code is relatively new and hasn’t been time-tested.

In the past, autocracies needed to employ a lot of people to gather intelligence on potential dissidents. This meant that running an autocracy was difficult, as there was a higher chance of successful revolt if the autocrat did not have enough people on their side. In the age of automation, things have changed Autocrats can now use cameras and listening devices to monitor citizens, and this monitoring can be done by AI, which reduces the need for human labor and brings results faster1.