Zhu Weisha November 20, 2024

Why doesn't Web3 have a killer application like ChatGPT?

Web3 was proposed earlier than ChatGPT, and Web3 has many different definitions; everyone has their own concept of Web3. Some say it is the next generation of the internet, while others say it is the infrastructure for future applications like NFTs and the metaverse. The views are very advanced but have not seen a project that can suddenly explode the market like ChatGPT.

The reason is:

Firstly, ChatGPT is the result of continuous exploration by humanity in neural network large models over the years. Just as the cypherpunk community has explored cryptocurrencies for many years, it was ultimately Satoshi Nakamoto who turned the results into Bitcoin. The level of perfection of Bitcoin cannot be compared with large AI models like ChatGPT.

Secondly, there have been no benchmark products since Web3 was proposed. After the launch of Bitcoin and ChatGPT, a whole bunch of imitators emerged to participate in the competition.

Thirdly, from Web1 to Web2, applications lead the way, and concepts are summarized later. A concept, no matter how good, is just a passing trend without applications to follow. There are very few concepts like Web3 that have remained hot for a long time without a killer application like Bitcoin emerging. Is Opensea one? Obviously not.

The reason for the above phenomenon is that Web3 is a continuous summarization and refinement of Satoshi Nakamoto's thoughts and the practice of cryptocurrencies, while Satoshi Nakamoto's thoughts span too widely, and no one in the industry has reached this intellectual span, leading everyone to be like blind men touching an elephant.

The refinement process of Web3

The first to refine these ideas are front-line scientists, such as Gavin Wood, co-founder of Ethereum. Ultimately, he is just a technical person and can only provide a superficial refinement of Satoshi Nakamoto's thoughts. He summarized Satoshi's ideas into zero-trust systems and decentralization, which is easy for technical people to understand and digest. However, it lacks imagination and foresight. The migration from Web2 to Web3 that Wood described did not happen, and his vision of Web 3.0 as 'a secure social operating system' has not been realized. Practice has proven that the path referred to by Wood is one that has failed both theoretically and practically.

From 2018 to 2021, entrepreneur and venture capital expert Chris Dixon further summarized Web3, completely avoiding mentioning blockchain and even trying to evade decentralization. He believes that overly centralized Web2 is bad, but a level of centralization similar to Web1 is acceptable. He proposed that to determine who owns the data, it is correct if it is in the hands of the users. He avoided all technical judgments made by Gavin Wood, and under this judgment, centralized NFT exchanges like Opensea are also considered projects under the Web3 concept. This has widened a deadlocked situation.

Dixon's core ideas are reflected in several articles, such as 'Why Web3 is Important', which describe Web3 as the internet owned by both builders and users, and that digital assets are the link connecting builders and users. It should be said that Dixon has made a higher-level summary of Satoshi Nakamoto's thoughts from both technical and philosophical aspects than Gavin Wood, but in the eyes of tech enthusiasts, it belittles blockchain, causing great controversy, for example, former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey opposed it.

Based on Dixon's work, researcher Jiang Xia from the research institution Messari describes the evolution from Web 1 to Web 2 and then to Web 3 as:

Web 1 is 'read';

Web 2 is 'read + write';

Web3 is 'read + write + own'.

Upon closer examination, Web1 can also be read and written, and Web2 also has ownership, just to different extents. However, this definition is intuitively simple and has become the mainstream view. This definition is like blockchain, merely a feature of Bitcoin, not a complete and accurate representation of Satoshi Nakamoto's thoughts.

For a detailed discussion on the definition of Web3, you can refer to the article on the no-chain website (What is missing in the current Web3 definition from the perspective of Bitcoin?).

The definition of Web3 should consider the inheritance from Web1 and Web2.

Regarding the definition of Web3, Chris Dixon believes that owning one's own data is accurate. The problem lies in Jiang Xia'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, which uses a push method for product characteristics in order to view large-screen content on small screens. Many products from Web1 have integrated Web2's push, while those stuck in Web1, like Tianya Forum, have all died. Push is a characteristic of Web2. Web2 includes the characteristics of clicks and searches from Web1. In other words, click plus push has inheritability.

Thus, Web3 should inherit the characteristics of Web1 and Web2 while adding its own features.

Therefore, from the perspective of inheritance, the definition of Web3 should be: click, push + own.

Current Web3 products have click searches, generally lacking pushes, which is the fundamental reason Web3 products cannot compete with Web2. Web3 must incorporate artificial intelligence pushes to possibly surpass Web2. Otherwise, Web3 will fall further behind in time.

This is a simplified new definition that is easy to understand, and it is a new idea. It can be seen that Web3 products that meet the above characteristics may emerge in the next generation of Web3 products, especially platform-type products need this kind of thinking. The no-chain platform is designed based on this definition. The no-chain website has download links for the no-chain platform and a no-chain white paper. The product token is currently 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 about the differences between Internet 1.0 and 2.0.

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