Instead of pursuing a false debate on whether this next-generation technology should be centralized or decentralized, we should ask how best can we arrange the narrative for desirable decentralization. This engaging narrative is constructed by making the mission and objectives among Web3 platforms more about coordination. In turn, this will create a space that allows individuals to maintain ownership and autonomy of the internet and its foundations. This is not some kind of freakish fiction but rather a reality of what is possible in today's Web3 repository. Through innovative technologies (NFT platforms, currency exchange, and wallet providers) in tandem with people-powered initiatives, Web3 is blossoming into a system of efficiently solving the problem found in centralized systems. Allowing self-sovereign identities their right for communication, privacy, and governance, but that doesn't come without its obstacles.

Objective / Disclaimer

Web3 is unfolding into new territories daily, building communities to find each other, holding themselves accountable towards the same mission and connecting with others. As a disclaimer to you reading this post, I am not an expert. I am naturally a researcher and enthusiast of the possibilities behind Web3 and decentralized narratives. I hope that by the time you finish reading this, you feel more familiar with Web3 and how decentralization plays a crucial role in facilitating the new narratives of what the internet was always meant to serve. I also strongly encourage everyone to always do as a motto states and "Do your own research" (DYOR) as a practice.

Pre-requisite

Let's start with Web1, which started around the early 90s, a version of the internet that was a space where consumers were primarily users on an open network of information (the read-only era). What Web1 had was many barriers to entry because of how technical the user experience was, which excluded the majority from using the internet. Leading us into the Web2 age, the centralization age came in with fewer barriers to entry due to big tech platforms such as Yahoo and Google who provided us with excellent user experience interfaces. This grew the consumer demand at scale. Most of us use this version today, where the primary focus is targeted advertisements and lack of privacy heralded by the arrival of social media. The Web2 internet we know today has needed the reliance on centralized intermediaries (Google, Meta, Amazon).

Decentralization

The main principle of Web3 is decentralization. Rather than being controlled by Big Tech, governments, financial institutions, or large corporations, it's entirely run by a community of individuals seeking to make a difference to combat our current Web2 form. This Web2 form has been governed by addictive, abrasive, and controlling narratives that I believe users are fed up with. Now, the technology underpinning Web3 makes it possible for far more inventive open-source and decentralized systems to be created — and enables decentralized economies (based on Blockchain systems that incentivize the stakeholders, developers, contributors, and consumers alike) to form around them. When this happens successfully will enable the products and services of Web3 to compete with and eventually surpass those of Web2.

Opportunity

Creatives now have an opportunity to leverage this technology and set it up to become a significant driver of economic growth. This can alter the workforce economy into new realms of possibility to significantly impact how we operate as a society (think about how DAOs, NFTs, and the Metaverse can help play this out?!). This is where I find the most utopic possibility in Web3, where the creator economy and the workforce collide. Bringing artists, lawyers, developers, and creators together from around the globe to create ideas and monetize them globally in permissionless crypto-economic systems— and essentially defining the future of work.

Value Creation

Ideas and community contributions of working toward a shared goal that gains value over time (through individuals who feed that value creation) are gaining momentum in various social communities (Friends with benefits, Forefront, and Party DAO). A concept that results in an ecosystem of equity that doesn't exclude the niche. The governing principle behind Web 3 takes us back to the idea we spoke about at the start of this post around Web1 which was the first version of open-source visions, so we are right back where we started. In a space filled with skeptics, naysayers, and the uninterested, my advice to you is to find where your area is in Web3 and begin to implement the change you want to see in the future. This isn't going anywhere, nor is it a hoax— It's the early stages of something completely new and has the potential to be shaped by the right set of values.

Here a list of some fun places to start:

• https://decentraland.org/
• https://rabbithole.gg/
• https://rally.io/
• https://mirror.xyz/
• https://dune.com/home
• https://www.radardao.xyz/
• https://chain.link/
• https://forefront.market/feed
• https://www.fwb.help/
• https://party.mirror.xyz/
• https://gitcoin.co/
• https://flamingodao.xyz/
• https://snapshot.org/#/
• https://rabbithole.gg/

Image Credit: Vinicius Costa