Zhu Weisha November 20, 2024
Why Web3 does not have a killer application like ChatGPT
Web3 was proposed earlier than ChatGPT. Web3 has many definitions, and everyone has his own Web3 in mind. Some say it is the next generation of the Internet, while others say it is the infrastructure for future applications such as NFT and the metaverse. The views are very advanced, but no project like ChatGPT can detonate the market all at once.
The reason is:
First, ChatGPT results from years of continuous human exploration of a large neural network model. Just like the years of exploration of the cypherpunk community in cryptocurrency, Satoshi Nakamoto eventually turned the results into Bitcoin. The degree of perfection of Bitcoin is not comparable to that of large artificial intelligence models such as ChatGPT.
Second, there is no benchmark product after Web3 was proposed. After Bitcoin and ChatGPT were launched, a large number of imitations were launched to compete.
Third, from Web1 to Web2, applications are leading the way, and concepts are summarized later. No matter how good an idea is, it is just a gust of wind without applications to keep up. A few concepts like Web3 have been hot for a long time, but no killer application like Bitcoin has appeared. Is Opensea one? Obviously, it has not stood firm.
The reason for the above phenomenon is that Web3 is a continuous summary and refinement of Satoshi Nakamoto's ideas and the practice of cryptocurrency. Still, Satoshi Nakamoto's ideas span too much, and no one in the industry has reached this span of ideas, resulting in everyone groping in the dark.
The refinement process of Web3
The first refinement was by Kavin Wood, a scientist standing on the front line and co-founder of Ethereum. After all, he is just a technician and can only superficially refine Satoshi Nakamoto's ideas. It refines Satoshi Nakamoto's ideas into zero-trust systems and decentralization. The advantage is that technicians can easily listen to it, and it sounds good. The disadvantage is that there is no imagination and foresight. The migration from Web2 to Web3, as described by Wood, did not happen, and Web 3.0, "a secure social operating system" he envisioned, was not realized. The practice has proved that the road that Wood refers to is a road that has failed in both theory and practice.
From 2018 to 2021, entrepreneur and venture capitalist Chris Dixon made a new summary of Web3. He never mentioned blockchain and even tried to avoid decentralization. Believed that over-centralized Web2 was not good, but the degree of centralization like Web1 was allowed. He proposed to judge who owns the data and whether it is right to be in the hands of users. He avoided all the technical judgments of Gavin Wood. Under this judgment, NFT exchanges such as Opensea that engage in centralized transactions can also be regarded as projects under the concept of Web3. It has broadened a chess game that has already gone to death.
Dixon's core ideas are reflected in several articles, such as "Why Web3 is Important," which describes Web3 as the Internet jointly owned by builders and users and digital assets as the link between builders and users. It should be said that Dixon made a higher-level summary of Satoshi Nakamoto from the technical and ideological level than Gavin Wood, but in the eyes of technology control, he belittled blockchain, which caused great controversy. For example, former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey opposed it.
Based on Dixon's work, Eshita, a researcher at Messari, described the evolution from Web 1 to Web 2 and then to Web 3 as follows:
Web 1 is "readable" (read);
Web 2 is "readable + writable" (read + write);
Web3 is "readable + writable + ownable" (read + write + own).
If you look closely, Web1 can also read and write, and Web2 can also own, but to different degrees. However, this definition is intuitive and straightforward and has become mainstream. This definition, like blockchain, is just a feature of Bitcoin and is not a complete and accurate Satoshi Nakamoto's idea.
For a detailed discussion of the definition of Web3, please refer to the article "What is missing from the current definition of Web3 from the perspective of Bitcoin?" on the chainless website.
The definition of Web3 should consider the inheritance of Web1 and Web2
Chris Dixon's definition of Web3 is accurate because he believes he owns hisseif own data. The problem lies in Eshita's summary of Web1 and Web2.
What are the characteristics of Web1? It refers to the PC Internet, characterized by clicks and searches.
What are the characteristics of Web2? It refers to the mobile Internet. The push method is selected as the product feature to watch the content of the large screen on the small screen.
Today, Web1 products will more or less integrate the push of Web2, and Tianya Forum, which stays in Web1, will die. Push is the characteristic of Web2. Web2 also includes the characteristics of click and search of Web1. That is, click + push is inherited.
Therefore, Web3 should inherit the characteristics of Web1 and Web2 and add its own characteristics.
From the perspective of inheritance, the definition of Web3 should be: click, push + ownership.
Current Web3 products have click search but generally no push. This is the fundamental reason why Web3 products cannot compete with Web2. Web3 can only be possible if it joins the artificial intelligence push. Otherwise, Web3 will fall further behind.
It is a simplified definition and easy to understand. It is a new idea. Web3 products that meet the above characteristics may appear in the next generation of Web3 products, especially platform products that need this idea. The chainless platform is a platform designed according to this definition. The chainless website has a download link and white paper for the chainless platform. Product tokens are being airdropped.
This definition only involves the issue of personal data sovereignty. It does not encompass all of Satoshi Nakamoto's Internet thinking. Satoshi Nakamoto's Internet is Internet 2.0, which I will explain in the next article on the difference between Internet 1.0 and 2.0.
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