The next 5 years will see massive change in all aspects of life. This is due to the rapid advancement in the transformation of the Internet as we know it.
Presently, the Internet is a 2D platform where we access it through screens. This was present since the start yet it changing into something completely different.
With the onset of mixed reality (VR and AR), we are going to see new "layers" added. In the near future we will not be accessing our information via a screen but, rather, through many different mechanisms. The Internet will move from 2D to 3D.
Blockchain is vital in this process. One of the biggest drawbacks to what we have now is the centralization that took place over the last 30 years. We saw the Internet, something that was suppose to be the frontier of freedom, controlled by a handful of companies around the world.
This stalled innovation while enabling a small minority to generate most of the revenue from this powerful platform.
That is all changing. The spatial web is going to unleash powerful innovations which will come from all corners of the globe. No longer will the mega corporations be in control. At the same time, we are seeing a shift in how the most valuable resource now, data, is owned.
We are conditioned to think about centralized. Many feel Amazon is untouchable because of its size. The presumption is retail is going to keep being swallowed up by powerful companies like Amazon and Wal-Mart until there are only a few standing.
Some of these companies are making moves to secure more of the digital world by becoming major cloud players and working on personal assistants. Once again, the mindset is "the big get bigger".
It requires a great deal of effort to change our thinking especially when it goes contrary to what we are accustomed to. However, with the way technology is moving, the trend is going to be reversed.
Cloud computing became an enormous business over the last decade. Companies moved from having a lot of their data in-house to it residing on the cloud. This provided a large number of benefits, the biggest being mobility. The data can be accessed anywhere.
With the Spatial Internet, this is not going to be sufficient. It is far too slow. The next phase is blockchain and edge computing which does the processing where the data is resident. This is a powerful aspect to blockchain that is not discussed a great deal. Latency is a problem, hence, distance needs to be closed.
Blockchain, MR, AI, 5G, and IoT are all pieces that are going to play into this. The Spatial Web is going to affect every area of our lives. All businesses are going to be transformed because of this. Therefore, it is something worthy of watching.
It is hard to envision what is taking place since we are trained to look at the present state. The lesson from the last 20 years should be that no longer things do not remain the same for long. Pre-internet, the flow of information was very slow. The first iteration of the Internet allowed a massive increase in the amount of information that was distributed and how readily available it was.
However, this was a static state. The next iteration enabled two-way communication and, most importantly, mobile. Social media, cloud, and video all were new features that did not exist before.
Now we are starting to see the next phase in the transformation.
The key here is convergence.
When we look at a large part of the second phase, we see mobility at the center of it. If we did deeper, we realize there were a lot of advancements required before that could be heavily used. The mobile infrastructure needed to be upgraded to handle the data passing through it. Batteries needed to advance so the life would last all day while sucking more people through more advanced applications. Screens need to improve. Processors had to be smaller and faster.
Ultimately, it all came together.
Once again, we are witnessing convergence. AI is making radical strides. 5G systems are starting to be constructed. Blockchain is gaining more computation power each day. Mixed reality is set to explode with all the new innovations set to be released. Cars, appliances, and even some people, are all being connected to the Internet.
Decentralization is taking place because the Spatial Web is personalized. No longer will there be cookie cutter solutions. Individuality and small groupings will be the norm. This means that all activity, including economic, will be spread out. Amazon is in trouble because there will be tens of millions of "stores" popping up, catering to a select audience. With AI, the ability to scan the entire web in search of what is needed will replace the need to go to a central repository like Amazon. The information will be handed to us as opposed to us having to find it.
I estimate, with the point we are at, that the next 5 years will equal 20 in the past. We are operating at a 4 for 1 pace. The amount of data that is being created is astronomical. This is leading to millions of algorithms that is processing it. All this results is radical advancements of system like we never saw before.
Cryptocurrency, something the masses either laugh at or are completely unaware of, are going to place a major part in the new Internet. A great deal of activity is going to be automated. Hence, human involved is going to decrease in many basic transactions. This is a good thing since humans tend to be a point of friction. We simply cannot operate fast enough.
In addition to speed, cryptocurrency provides a great deal of flexibility meaning it is ripe for innovation. People see cryptocurrency as money when, in fact, it can be a great deal more than that. Since it is programmable, we are only limited to what is programmed. Try to do that with the US Dollar or any other fiat currency.
We are seeing tools being developed which will help to bring the Spatial Web into being. It is a process but one that is accelerating. Never before have we seen so many technologies of impact converging at the same time. Each one could radically alter society, combined it is just going to blow people's minds.
It is easy to get lost in the specifics while missing the entire paradigm shift that is taking place. Specialization taught us to look at specific areas of focus. Through that, we became very adept at knowing all that was in that particular box. The problem with this is that once we stray out of that, we are lost.
Most of the population is lost right now. The world over the next decade will change radically and it will not be because of politics, governments, or grass root movements. At the core of it all is technology. Medicine, retail, construction, entertainment, and transportation are all being "teched out". This is going to affect jobs, education, legal, and a host of other things that we are accustomed to.
Essentially, we are seeing some very powerful tools being created. This is why it is vital that we keep pushing the idea of decentralization and open source. Each application that is developed that falls under this category will help to shift things away from how they presently are. Over time, we are going to see millions of people a day adopt these, most without even knowing it.
Web 3.0 is much bigger than most people imagine. Many view it as a decentralized internet which is not incorrect. However, this only touches upon a small slice of what it is in totality.
Step back and you will see how it is forming right before our eyes.
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