Web5 vs. Web3: The future is a process, not a destination

On June 10, many were surprised by the news that TBD, a subsidiary of Block, Twitter’s co-founder Jack Dorsey, announced the launch of the Web5 platform. Web 1, 2, 3 and now Web 5? But where is Web 4? Those who don’t care about number sequences can just downloaded Web 7.

But first, so that no one gets behind in understanding this article, let’s quickly talk about the stages of Web evolution. If you already know the subject, you can skip to the next topic.

From the static web to the collaborative web

In the beginning, there was what we now call Web1, at that time simply known as the web. At this stage, the first websites, portals and online services were developed, and users could only read the information, without the chance of direct interaction. As no interaction was possible between users. Those who accessed the web just consumed the content made available in a web of one-way communication and, for this reason, Web1 was also called “Static Web.”

With the evolution of Web support technologies, Web2 gradually arrived with the emergence and proliferation of social networks and all the applications such as blogs, forums and podcasts that made new forms of participative communication possible.

In fact, due to the development of these new tools, users began to communicate with each other and share their own content. In this step, the user who was once just a passive actor, became the holder of the creation and management of online content, building new processes and interactions, which is why Web 2 has been dubbed the “Collaborative Web.”

When did Web3 emerge?

Just like the other stages of the web, it is difficult to pinpoint when Web3 was born. This is because Web development is a process and, as such, has no set start date. But, many argue that the idea of Web3 emerged around 2006, although the term Web3 was only coined in 2014 by Gavin Wood. It is supposed to be the next step of the internet. And, I say supposedly, because it is still in its infancy and therefore there is still no certainty of what the next stage of the Web will really be.

Note that there is no single creator of Web3. It is being developed as a collaboration of different individuals and organizations building upon each other. But, overall, those involved in smart contract platforms on blockchains such as Ethereum, EOS and TRON are the ones who are admittedly leading the way in building Web3.

It’s important to note here is that one of the most popular programming libraries used to write Ethereum code is called web3.js. And there is also a foundation, the Web3 Foundation, which is run by the founders of the Polkadot network.

Broadly speaking, the main goal of Web3 is to try to solve the biggest problem of Web2: the collection of personal data by private networks that enable surveillance capitalism, a true marketplace of future behavior.

And for this, Web3 has as its main focus of innovation to be a web of decentralized networks, not controlled by any one entity, formed by platforms that use consensus mechanisms that everyone can trust. In it, decentralized applications (DApps) would be built on top of open networks, and no entity would be able to collect data without the user’s consent, nor limit or censor anyone’s access. That is, as extracted from the Web3 Foundation’s own website, Web3 has a mission to create “a decentralized and fair internet where users control their own data, identity and destiny.”

The second focus of innovation promised by the Web3 developers is that these decentralized networks would enable the value or “money” of the internet to be transferred directly between users’ accounts, without intermediaries. And, these two features — decentralization and internet money — are still in their early stages, are the keys to understanding Web3.

However, many critics have expressed concerns about the current Web3 such as its dependence on funding from Venture Capitalists like Andreessen…