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Why Web3?

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Re: Why Web3?

#21
post #13

The linked post[1], ironically, really helps to cement why I consider web3 to be interesting technologically but mostly nonsense from a product perspective. > As a first approximation all the big powerful internet companies are really database providers. Facebook is a database of people’s profiles, their friend graphs and their status updates. Paypal is a database of people’s account balances. Amazon is a database of…

Appreciated your third paragraph and 3rd link. I'm struggling with my own articulation about how NFTs dont intrinsically themselves add value and yet are being treated/described as such, and this helped clarify it a bit for me.

Re: Why Web3?

#22
post #3

One thing that is confusing most loud supporters of Web3 are VCs and yet: "It all comes down to the database that sits behind an application. If that database is controlled by a single entity (think company, think big tech), then enormous market power accrues to the owner/administrator of that database. If, on the other hand, the database is an open public database that is not controlled and administered by a single…

My theory:

Some people believe that this type of decentralization could be a force that can't be stopped by traditional companies and want to get in as soon as possible so they don't end up on the losing side of history.

Of course, rich people simply diversify their assets and crypto is just one of many bets they do, so it's not 100% sure this will happen.

Re: Why Web3?

#23
I read this as yet another article stating how great web3 is going to be and how important the decentralization aspect is, without making it clear exactly why this is the case, and what concrete examples of things we'll be able to do with it (that we're unable to do today) are.

Web3 sounds to me like one of those soap opera startups PG talks about. They sound like a great idea when you propose them, but do people really want them in reality?

Re: Why Web3?

#24

I think it's really easy to be doubtful about web3, especially given how much BS is floating in the space, and the high amount of pure speculative trades having been made so far. I still believe that there's something there, but I'm not sure what it is. I am also unsure that the current wave of companies will be able to find it. The different between the early adoption of web2 and this current web3 cycle is that web2…

In many countries real estate transactions are validated by a notary elite that has a lot of political clout. Technical superiority is not even a factor here.

Re: Why Web3?

#25
post #3

One thing that is confusing most loud supporters of Web3 are VCs and yet: "It all comes down to the database that sits behind an application. If that database is controlled by a single entity (think company, think big tech), then enormous market power accrues to the owner/administrator of that database. If, on the other hand, the database is an open public database that is not controlled and administered by a single…

The locking is in the company that controls the spec of the protocol and its reference implementation. It’s always been about getting as many people onboard as possible, this time the bait is decentralisation.

Could you explain that business model?

Re: Why Web3?

#26
public data isn't going to keep things decentralized because data isn't the only thing that matters, if anything it matters less and less. Core part of what large internet services do is process data and provide services built on top of a lot of compute.

We have big internet companies because processing that amount of information is computationally expensive and thus centralization is the economic solution. Not even traditional p2p solutions have yet been able to compete with large entities, and 'web3' with its crypto solutions is substantially worse because it's computationally more expensive by design.

Not to mention there's also the fairly obvious point that a lot of those companies exist by processing data that is inherently private because users demand it to be so. Nobody is willingly going to put their chat messages on the blockchain to be read by the public.

Re: Why Web3?

#27
post #3

One thing that is confusing most loud supporters of Web3 are VCs and yet: "It all comes down to the database that sits behind an application. If that database is controlled by a single entity (think company, think big tech), then enormous market power accrues to the owner/administrator of that database. If, on the other hand, the database is an open public database that is not controlled and administered by a single…

I wouldn’t think too far into this. All that is required is the application of experience and appropriate cynicism. The tech isn’t even relevant and neither is the reality.

web3 is a marketing term and is easy to leverage hype on as it implies progression and a new arena of opportunity.

By the time anyone has peeled off the marketing and realised it’s the same old bullshit people will be too far in to admit it and death march over the horizon.

Re: Why Web3?

#29
Global finance will eventually be eclipsed by large-scale economic planning systems. It will probably take a couple decades for finance to go the way of alchemy, but the signs of its irrelevance are there: hilarious schemes like SPACs, DeFi, NFTs. Totally divorced from the underlying economics.

Re: Why Web3?

#30
post #3

One thing that is confusing most loud supporters of Web3 are VCs and yet: "It all comes down to the database that sits behind an application. If that database is controlled by a single entity (think company, think big tech), then enormous market power accrues to the owner/administrator of that database. If, on the other hand, the database is an open public database that is not controlled and administered by a single…

What happens when I the company create a databse (let's say facebook) and Developer A create more compelling application that facebook company?

1.Where is the controlling part. 2. what facebook internal advantage/motivation to create and hire more engineers and give dopemine to more people?

Saying company facebook own coin which has no value what does this even mean?

Explain to me.

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