WTF is Web 3.0

 In the early days of Wikipedia, I used to be what is known as a "Wikidragon", someone who makes bold edits and significant changes to even the good pages. For example, "Economics" was a featured story, but it did not have a definition! So I added a definition right to the top, and although the definition changed, the page still opens with a definition, reasonably. Over the years, I noticed that Wikipedia became increasingly inaccurate and arcane. Dive into any math or quantum physics topic, and even those familiar with say quantum chromodynamics or string theory can easily get lost! I remember back in 2006ish, I used to deface Wikipedia pages a night before class projects, (which is the only time anyone worked on those), and then saw people give outrageous powerpoint presentations the next day! More often than not, I had to make do with a private laugh as the teachers were dozing and did not know any better, and no one else picked it up. 

Anyway, what does all of this have to do with Web 3.0? Well, first of all the original definition of Web 3.0 was buried in the page for Web 3.0, but now there is a disambiguation between Web 3.0 and Web 3 for some reason. In any case, Tim-Berners Lee conceptualized the semantic web almost from the inception of the intertubes itself, where he saw machines understanding to some extent the content of the web, and actively listening to users instead of simply returning outputs for inputs. The social networking algorithms, suggestion engines for streaming services, Google's pagerank system (which depended heavily on the blogosphere in its early days) and voice assistants that learn about individuals are all examples of Web 3.0 technologies. 

Then there is the other, newer, hijacked Web 3.0. This is similar to image macros, or pictures with text on them being widely known as "memes", instead of the original intended meaning of ideas that transmit between people. Richard Dawkins included ways of building arches, and ways of shaping pots as memes when he originally coined the word. 

Anyway, the Ethereum co-founder Gavin Wood defined the new Web 3.0 as decentralized apps and services that exist on top of blockchains. The confusing thing here is that it is perfectly possible for Web 3.0 tech to exist in Web 3.0. Figure that out because it is causing a lot of scuffling in Clubhouse rooms that are discussing the distributed internet. 

In short, there are two Web 3.0s, one is the semantic web, and the other is blockchain based. People are most likely to be talking about the latter now, but it is a newer concept. The internet keep inventing new terminologies for existing stuff, and reappropriating existing stuff into old concepts, making basic communication difficult and problematic. Pretty soon, people will not be able to understand the internet, let alone machines.