Understanding the Web 3.0

The evolution of the internet

Whether it’s sending out the first email over the internet by Ray in 1971 or sending a starship to Mars by SpaceX, these mega technological advancements took a significant number of iterations to evolve to a stage where millions of people worldwide are impacted by them every day. The invention of the internet was one such technological leap. It provided the foundations for the emergence of e-commerce, finance, education, health, and other mainstream industries. Since its inception, the internet has evolved at a rapid pace.

Understanding Web 3.0

Similar to the metaverse, Web 3.0 has garnered significant interest among the public. It has been touted as the next iteration and future of the internet. But what exactly is it? To understand it better, let’s briefly examine the evolution of the web.

Web 1.0 vs. Web 2.0 vs. Web 3.0

• The web’s first iteration, Web 1.0 was a read-only static web primarily for one-way viewing of information. Furthermore, it was noninteractive and nondynamic.

• Web 2.0 emerged after the static web, introducing dynamism and user-generated content to the internet. This iteration allowed users to not only consume but also generate content. For example, on InstagramThis is a social media application whose parent company is Meta., users can now like, comment, share, or even create posts, making the web more interactive. However, the platforms that enable this user interaction are usually controlled by big tech companies like Meta and Microsoft, leading to the centralization of Web 2.0 around these giants. Consequently, these companies own users’ identities and sell their personal data to various advertisers, generating income in the process.

• Efforts are underway to democratize the internet by making it decentralized and moving its data to a peer-to-peer data structure called blockchain. In Web 3.0, users own their data rather than the corporations. To support transactions between its users, it maintains a distributed ledger that is publicly accessible and secure. Overall, this iteration is believed to make the internet fairer and more dependable. The following illustration demostrates the evolution till Web 3.0:

Web 3.0 refers to the concept of a decentralized, interoperable, and democratic web. The metaverse, on the other hand, is envisioned by many experts, including Parisihttps://medium.com/meta-verses/the-seven-rules-of-the-metaverse-7d4e06fa864c, as a network of interconnected virtual worlds with no centralized body but with interoperability as a core feature. While Web 3.0 technology can serve as a foundation for the metaverse, it can’t be a metaverse itself. Although interoperability and decentralization may still be a few years away from reality, blockchain use cases have already been implemented in various virtual worlds. For instance, Decentraland is an existing metaverse that allows users to buy and sell virtual plots/lands using the virtual currency MANA. MANA is a fungible ERC-20 token built on blockchain technology. Essentially, Decentraland is a blockchain-based metaverse space.

Note: By leveraging Web 3.0 (blockchain) technologies, the metaverse ecosystem can become decentralized, secure, and community driven.

Internet consumption is expected to change fundamentally, from browsing digital content on the web to living within an immersive 3D internet consisting of customized 3D worlds. The possibilities are limitless. Imagine trying on a new dress using your avatar in a 3D marketplace or virtually trying on a ring by just installing a vendor's augmented reality (AR) application on your mobile phone. These aren’t mere ideas anymore. Extended reality (XR) technologies are already disrupting e-commerce. Many top brands have rolled out their latest XR applications to enhance their customers’ shopping experience.

Real-world applications of XR technologies

The following are a few of the real-world applications of XR technologies:

• Even before the pandemic, the gaming industry had incorporated XR technologies to provide an immersive experience to their communities. Pokémon Go, which uses AR technology, is a great example. 

• Now, IKEA has also moved toward AR applications to enhance customer experience by letting them preview furniture on their mobile phone before buying. Similarly, AR applications like WEARFITS let users see clothing and shoes in 3D before purchasing.

• The healthcare sector uses XR to provide a hands-on training experience to staff by allowing them to visualize surgeries in virtual reality. It’s also being used to build psychotherapeutic tools to treat various psychological ailments, such as chronic anxiety and depression.

• We can learn how to play the piano in the metaverse by simply using our bare hands, which will be tracked by VR headsets like the Oculus Quest 2. Check out an example of this below.

The widespread adoption of XR-ready mobile phones has made XR technology more accessible. Users can harness these technologies to engage with coworkers in a realistic metaverse. Ultimately, these metaverse technologies will fundamentally alter how we interact with the internet. These two concepts are no longer a mystery but are the direction the future internet is gravitating toward.