(Author: Zhang Qun, Sailian Blockchain Education)
After 2020, with the rapid development of science and technology, we will be eliminated by society if we are not careful. Blockchain and Web3 are the biggest trends in 2022, and they are also the future development trend of the Internet. What exactly is Web3.0? When teaching the blockchain class to the students, I used these three words for everyone to ensure that you can understand it deeply in an instant.
Back in 1989, a group led by Tim Berners-Lee of the European Institute of Particle Physics submitted a new protocol for the Internet and a document system using the protocol, and named the new system World Wide Web, referred to as WWW ( World Wide Web). WWW allows any user on the Internet to search and obtain documents from the databases of many document service computers. Simply put, it moves the "dictionary" we used before to the Internet. This is the earliest prototype, and along this This path also opened up the innovation of the Internet era.
1. Web 1.0 - What You See Is What You Get
With the emergence of "WWW", people began to create various displayable information on the page, such as news, information and various pictures, etc., through the Web, resources on the Internet can be displayed more intuitively in a webpage , and resources can be linked on the web page.
During this time, many well-known companies were born, such as Google, Yahoo, Sohu, and Sina. They formed major portal websites through the display of various web page information, and then attracted users to click and watch, so as to customize advertisements and monetize through traffic. Later we often refer to this period as Web1.0 (roughly from 1991 to 2004).
According to some, "In Web 1.0, there were very few content creators, and the vast majority of users were simply consumers of content."
2. Web 2.0 - what you recommend is what you get
In fact, when the concept of Web2.0 was proposed, there was no such thing as Web1.0. Web2.0 was invented by Darcy DiNucci in 1999, and later promoted by Tim O'Reilly and Dale Dougherty at the O'Reilly Media Web 2.0 conference at the end of 2004, and Web 2.0 was more accepted by everyone. In order to distinguish, the previous period of network development is called Web 1.0.
The characteristic of Web1.0 is that the website provides content, and users read the content, just like we watch TV, we can only watch the content that others want to show us, and we have no way to control the content broadcast by the TV station.
However, as more and more people join the Internet industry, some more interesting business models are gradually born, such as the birth of blogs, the birth of Facebook social platforms, and the QQ space that everyone is familiar with in China. The biggest feature of this type of website and application is that it allows users to generate content independently, interact with the website and others, and communicate with each other, which is the characteristic of Web 2.0. Today, algorithms have controlled our Internet. What you see is recommended to you based on your interests. It will recommend what you like. This is what you get.
From the "read-only" of Web 1.0 to the "interaction" of Web 2.0, it is not a process of replacement. Although most Internet applications and products belong to Web 2.0, there are still many projects belonging to Web 1.0 running. And many Internet practitioners in Web 2.0 are also thinking about how the Internet should develop in the next step, so they have various imaginations of Web 3.0.
3. Web3.0 - what you build is what you get
Before the birth of the blockchain, many Internet professionals had already put forward their own opinions on Web3.0, but there was no blockchain technology at that time, and the blockchain technology can bring unprecedented value to the Internet and a trusted Internet. An important solution and problem-solving approach. Therefore, the previous concept of Web3.0 was proposed without some key thinking and solutions.
In 2013, a major event that shocked the world occurred. In June 2013, Snowden disclosed the secret documents of the US National Security Agency's Prism monitoring project to the Guardian and the Washington Post. He was immediately wanted by the US government, was in Hong Kong at the time of the incident, and then flew to Russia. Snowden later exposed the UK's secret intelligence surveillance project again through the "Guardian". This incident is also known as the "Prism Gate".
The "Prism Gate" has revealed a terrifying truth to the public: the intelligence agencies of the United States and the United Kingdom, without legal authorization and without the knowledge of the public or even the Congress, are conducting large-scale and almost unlimited surveillance of their own citizens. "Prism Gate" also proves that the cypherpunk movement is by no means mediocre. To defend the privacy of citizens, you really can only rely on yourself.
It was the impact of that incident that Dr. Gavin, the co-founder of Ethereum at the time and now the founder of Polkadot, realized that there are many problems in the Internet today, so Dr. Gavin then proposed Web 3.0.
Web 3.0, as defined by Gavin, will be an extensible series of technical frameworks and a new way to build applications. Through this new application, he hopes that everyone can control their (digital) identity, assets and Data, and then control your own destiny.
It can be said that this theme is aimed at the existing Internet monopoly problems exposed by Snowden's "Prism Gate". Giant companies control the data and information of all participants, and enjoy the dividends of Internet development, but as users, they can only sell One's own data, information, etc. enjoy some convenience, but they do not enjoy the dividends of Internet development at all. Therefore, Dr. Gavin also referred to Web 3.0 as the Internet in the post-Snowden era.
When we talk about the development of Web 3.0, we have to further mention something about the blockchain, because the decentralization, trustless and tamper-proof features of the blockchain are very good for the goals of Web 3.0— — Create a new generation of Internet, allowing each user to control their own data, identity and destiny.