NFT and Web 3.0: with blockchain, the Internet becomes for everyone.

Introduction.

To understand how NFTs and blockchain are changing the internet, it is essential to understand the evolution of the web. How often do we see the phrases web 2.0, web 3.0 in newspapers, on television, or in universities? Let’s define these concepts.

Since 1993, the Internet has been mainly used by scientists and the military, with minimal commercial use. The emergence of browsers and commercial activities on the Internet, known as web 1.0, represents the first phase of recent Internet use. Web 2.0 sees the growth of social networking sites and the birth of a participatory culture on the internet that distinguishes web 2.0, and web 3.0 represents the phase we are currently living in.

I will try to explain these 3 phases separately.

WEB 1.0: the “passive web.”

In the initial phase, the Internet establishes a user interconnection based on the network, creating websites, portals, and web service platforms where users can only navigate, explore product catalogs, purchase from business websites, and read articles. With web 1.0, the company’s ability to interact with its consumers is limited, so the only modes of communication are traditional: email, fax, phone, and advertising.

In this phase, the Internet is a “no man’s land,” a virtual place where you are either a company/organization or a consumer/user.

On the one hand, there are those (few) who create content, on the other, those (many) who use it.

WEB 2.0: the “active/centralized web.”

The second phase, still current, is defined by the collection of all online applications that allow interaction between the website and the user, with tools like social networks, blogs, tags, and podcasts that offer the possibility of deepening the user-company relationship.

Communication becomes participatory, and anyone can contribute to the dissemination of information available on the Internet, making it accessible to all. This period is characterized by the birth of digital giants such as social networks and search engines, platforms and programs capable of “hosting” a large number of users and “guiding” them in their searches through the registration and use of their personal data.

It is worth noting that, although this phase gives users maximum freedom of creation and sharing of content, these activities are no longer carried out in a “no man’s land” as in web 1.0 but, on the contrary, on platforms owned by private companies or thanks to them.

On the one hand, many users create content, on the other, a few big players use it to sell: everyone can have their own blog, store, or profile, as long as it is on a platform of some big company.

WEB 3.0: the “active/decentralized web.”

All of this brings us to today.

Of course, web 3.0 builds on the foundations of web 2.0, improving and sometimes maximizing some of its aspects thanks to semantic web and artificial intelligence. It is defined by greater user awareness and, consequently, greater control over content, as well as the graphical progression from 2D to 3D.

However, the biggest step forward from web 2.0, which best represents the ongoing technological revolution, is undoubtedly represented by the words blockchain and decentralization.

Web 3 not only allows users to communicate better with programs and devices (and vice versa), it also allows them to:

• Owning a personal profile/wallet not supported by any app of any multinational corporation but connectable and shareable with anyone via blockchain.
• Hold, buy, sell, and trade cryptocurrency with anyone, freely, without control by international and local banking organizations.
• Create, buy, and sell crypto-assets (such as NFTs), unique non-fungible tokens with multiple functions, from artworks to finance.

Values that are authenticated both in uniqueness and ownership precisely thanks to the blockchain.

So, the watchwords for the future are property, freedom, and decentralization.

“Believing” and “understanding” are two different things.

It was 1998 when I asked a computer scientist a question that may seem silly today, but I assure you that 24 years ago it wasn’t: “What is a search engine?”

Answer: “Have you ever wondered how to find a website if you don’t know the address (URL)? Well, the browser does it for you.”

The internet ran at 56k, it already had significant adoption, but it was still web 1.0 after all, many things were missing that we take for granted today.

When the computer scientist explained to me the importance that search engines would have in the future, I thought, “His enthusiasm is just a professional thing, they will never be indispensable in everyday life.”

Time has proven the exact opposite. He was right.

Today even our grandmothers use search engines (a term now trite and transliterated into a generic “Google”).

The NFT revolution is a perfect comparison to the previous anecdote. Today non-fungible tokens may perhaps be relegated by many as a “whim for geek artists,” but in the very near future, they will be essential tools, not only in the artistic field but also in many other sectors.

Web 3.0 has arrived, and today, as 24 years ago, to ride innovation, it is necessary first of all to ask the right questions and then stay tuned, tuned to change.

After all, as my dear friend and partner Manuel Timperi says: “Research is the basis of growth. At the exact moment we stop the first, the second automatically ends.”