[laputan_machine]

Can someone explain to me what even "Web3" means? It seems like a nonsense buzzword. I mean "Web 2.0" meant ajax, right? And even then it's a silly difference to make, like calling every new addition to the ECMAscript standard a new version of the web...

[manigandham]

There are 3 main features:

1) Decentralized apps (dapps) - Backend of websites/service that run as smart contracts on a particular blockchain instead of a centralized infrastructure. More resilient and inherently scalable.

2) Decentralized identity - Instead of creating user accounts for every site, identities are just wallet addresses. People maintain their own data and use their own keys to sign transactions.

3) Decentralized ownership (records) - NFTs are secure records of payment for ownership of a digital asset and can be traded easily.

The theme is that everything is available and keeps running without censorship, corruption, or other influence getting in the way, as long as the chain itself is still running. Whether there's serious utility in that is still unknown. I also think it's unlikely given how much we're tied to physical bodies and sovereign nations with their own laws and politics.

[vmception]

its mostly talking about how its a platform to build uncensorable products. that's the primary distinction that web3 associated platforms offer.

think of it like Shopify apps - the SaaS products that developers try to sell to merchants to make some part of the merchant's life easier. Those developers are just trying to make money.

web3 offers a similar kind of platform that isn't dependent on Shopify continuing to care. there are many things to make easier and it is incredibly lucrative to do so.

the "decentralized" part is just a distraction to derail conversations, but degrees of decentralization are optional.

[sys_64738]

Isn’t Web3 meant to be decentralized sort of like peer to peer? Or it used to but maybe that’s not a thing anymore.

[eswat]

Depends on which “Web3” community you're talking to: ethereum, dApps, wallets etc. vs scuttlebutt, dat, urbit, etc.

[jazzyjackson]

I hesitate to ask, is urbit a thing? are daily active users of daily volume available anywhere?

[longitudinal93]

SV luminary Jordan Hall spends some time answering your query in this interview on Rebel Wisdom:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=o32x9qx3Umo

[m_ke]

How can you take his technobabble seriously?