Criticism of Web 3.0 Grows
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Several prominent leaders in technology such as Jack Dorsey and Elon Musk have recently criticized one the latest technological innovations on the horizon: Web 3.
Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter and founder and CEO of Square, posted several tweets on Tuesday critiquing the direction of Web 3.0 development and investments. Web 3.0 is the proclaimed next evolution of the internet that will greater incorporate artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and blockchain technology in a push to “decentralize” the internet.
The current version of the internet (Web 2.0) has brought many updates and quality-of-life improvements over earlier iterations of the internet in regards to accessibility found in the ease of using websites such as Youtube, Facebook, and other social media services but at a cost. These services are considered “centralized”, where they are owned and controlled by centralized entities such as companies or institutions that control who and how these applications are utilized.
While Web 3.0 promises to “decentralize” the internet away from these practices, Dorsey has pinpointed flaws in the prototypical Web 3 structure where venture capital firms (VCs) and limited partnerships (LPs) are often the main source of funding behind these decentralized projects. If these venture capital groups and partnerships own a controlling stake of the “decentralized” project, theoretically they could coerce project founders to comply with centralized regulations and practices that go against the merits of decentralization.
Several responses to the Square CEO’s tweets countered his claims by pointing out the irony and hypocrisy of a successful Web 2.0 founder who profited off of centralization dismissing and almost gatekeeping the evolution of internet services into Web 3. Although criticisms of Dorsey’s recent statements may be valid, he has pointed out significant flaws in the decentralized model that Web 3.0 currently offers, where power and control may not be in control of the users but rather in the hands of a handful of early investors.
As the debate over Web 3.0’s integrity ensued on Twitter, Tesla CEO Elon Musk decided to join in on the discussion and poke fun at the idea of a “decentralized” system that is not quite yet up and running for now.
