Hi there everyone it's TheRingMaster here again with another thought-provoking article about Web 3, well today it's about the future of it.
We had Web 1, then afterwards Web 2 came in as a complete upgrade now we're on Web 3 which has so many advantages and one of my favorite being "Decentralization" giving users control over their content.
Has anyone considered what Web 4 will be like?
Now I'm certain many would think this question is a bit too early to ask since Web 3 itself is still in the early stages of development but technology has this one nature which is the way it accelerates in its advancements exponentially. We may see Web 4 faster than you ever thought.
The main question of my blog is whether Web 4 will come to replace Web3 or be the effect of upgrading Web 3.
If you pay attention to the visions of communities of Hive, you see lots of communities with so many huge plans for the future of Hive.
I had the pleasure of joining @ecency HHH show yesterday and we had a special guest @detlev a powerful Hive Witness who when I listened to I had so much respect and admiration for. He's quite a busy man and is majorly responsible for one of the biggest communities on Hive, Pinmapple (The best travel community). There's so much that the team intends to do in the future.
You can vote for him as witness and it will help a lot
Ecency has so many plans to upgrade the platform and I'm so happy to be part of the community and Hive itself. There's a chance that the endeavor of these communities to upgrade Web 3 will lead to Web 4. Of course it's just a speculative opinion of mine but I'll explain further in this blog.
The Internet is something we now use everyday for almost everything. However it is technology so it keeps changing and I think people will be interested in whatever will come after Web 3.0.
A Little History
To be able to understand exactly what could happen with Web 4 we need to first of all consider how the internet has evolved over time.
Like I said earlier on, the world had Web 1.0 which was like the simplest version of the internet. I'm in my middle 20s so didn't really experience Web 1 that much since I was too young to use a computer at that time but I'm certain the old folks would remember what Web 1 looked like. Just websites with text and pictures. It was really nothing fancy. And as things advanced, then came Web 2.0, which brought us social media and videos as well as creating things online by everybody.
That changed the World for sure. That's when we started having people live off of incomes from online jobs. - Some YouTubers have become millionaires and it's all thanks to Web 2
And right now we’re knee-deep in Web 3.0. Hive is Web 3 and so you're reading this very blog on the new Internet. It is where things begin to get very interesting. Cryptocurrency can smoothly get integrated with the Internet thanks to Web 3 and Hive is a testament of this.
We’ve got sweet "decentralization", blockchain as well as great things like virtual reality and smart contracts which I'll talk about in future blogs. The internet becomes more interconnected and secure just like that.
However, what happens next after Web 3.0? This is the question. Others say that we will continue to build on what already exists by making slight changes and modifications. They believe Web 4.0 will probably be a better version of Web 3.0 with improved security and more interesting features.
Two Schools Of Thought
Now as my title suggests, there are two ways Web 4 can be introduced to the world and everyone that knows a little about the Internet would have an opinion based on one of these two possibilities.
There are those who feel we need to start afresh with Web 4.0. They would argue that everything known about the internet should be thrown out and a new one built from scratch. Something unrelated to Web 3 but a whole new concept. The one technology I think would fit this description might be Quantum Computers.
According to this school of thought, this means we would need a whole new level of computers to be able to use Web 4.
Countries like United States of America and China are already in a race to develop Quantum Computers. With their endeavors to make this happen perhaps we may witness hyper-advanced technologies like quantum computing as well as AI that will completely change the workings of the internet. Your current phones and computers would not be able to run Web 4 if it happens this way.
Now I much rather prefer the second school of thought which is Web 3 will improve itself to become Web 4. Since I absolutely love Hive and believe in its future potential, I’m rather inclined to side more with option number two in this case. I think that Web 4.0 would be an advancement rather than a total revamp, at least in my estimation. For web 3.0, we have come a long way but still much can be done to make it even better through enhanced security features, faster connectivity rates or even virtual reality.
There's so much that can be done with Web 3 and I believe we've only scratched the surface so far.
As I've been sharing this week, Web 3 has one very important benefit and that is the control it gives to the individuals that use it. Centralization comes with a problem, since we all know that absolute power almost always corrupts absolutely, a centralized and globalized world would be a big mistake for us.
Imagine having an evil dictator that happens to get control over a major part of the advanced centralized world and there's nothing we can do about it. This is what Web 3 and Blockchain discourages. That's why it's going to be much better for Web 3.0 to advance into Web 4.0, rather than Web 4.0 being a whole different project doing away with Decentralization.
I would only accept Web 4.0 to be independent of Web 3 if it still maintains the positive qualities of Web 3.0.
But well, this is just a mere opinion. Nonetheless, what lies ahead for the Internet is unknown as it attracts brilliant people who have diverse ideas.
Nobody knows yet but maybe Web 4.0 will be something way beyond our wildest dreams. Nevertheless, I think of the internet as a living organism and it has always been interesting to watch its next steps.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this blog. I would most definitely love for you to share your opinions on the matter.
Do you think Web 4 will be a replacement or an upgrade of Web 3?
