The Internet Is Down, and the IT Department Is Distant

<p>Web3 appears to be on a par with Web2. Numerous investors remain sceptical.</p> <p>Web3 The Contradiction Between Dreams and Reality</p> <p>It's difficult to give up a dream. It becomes even more difficult when it is based on billions of dollars.</p> <p>This week, the tech industry was divided over the prospect of Web3, a decentralised version of the internet anchored by digital money that proponents hope could eventually supplant the present, corporate-dominated Web2.</p> <p>You rarely see nerds dispute on social media with such religious zeal as when the subject is web architecture.</p> <p>On the Web3 side are proponents of blockchain and non-volatile memory, who believe the internet should be rebuilt in ways that redistribute power away from corporate giants like Alphabet Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc. to individual users.</p> <p>This frequently results in Web2 members saying, "That sounds nice, but it's just like communism: it won't function in practise and will destroy a lot of hard-earned riches in a crash." Web3 proponents assert that the Web2 forces are merely fearful. The Web2 camp responds,</p> <p>Moxie Marlinspike, the dreadlocked sailor and cryptographic hero who developed the encryption technology that powers Facebook Messenger years ago, stepped into this issue. Marlinspike is the only one who truly knows crypto's basics.</p> <p>Marlinspike attempted to construct a few Web3 applications on his own, but discovered that none of them provided access to the blockchain. The gatekeepers were applications such as wallets and marketplaces. He detailed many examples in a blog post of how power has already centralised among a few early enterprises, much as it happened with Web2.</p> <p>Marlinspike was naive, the Web3 folks asserted. This is similar to how people felt about the mobile internet before it surpassed PCs, stated a venture capitalist with Web3. Chris Dixon, co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz, retweeted him. Andreessen Horowitz recently raised $2.2 billion for a new cryptocurrency fund. The