Humans, on average, do not adjust to change very well.
There are many theories as to why this is the case. Some believe that it is part of our biology. For most of our history, change was slow. Families lived on the same piece of land without much innovation for centuries. There are period where significant advancement took place but, even then, it was over an expected period.
For example, the move from hunter and gather to agriculture was huge. That was not an overnight process. It too centuries for the shift to be made.
This was repeated with the move from an agriculture based economy to one spurred on by the Industrial Revolution. The key difference is that we were not looking at centuries. This time, we can mark the chance in decades.
Enter in new technologies such as the Internet and mobile phone. Each of these had significant impact upon our world. Both of these reached mass adoption, at least within the developed world, in a decade or less.
The final piece of evidence will require a bit of projection.
If we use November 2022 as the start point, generative AI will have consequential impact within half a decade.
Our morale here is the timeframes are contracting.
Image generated by Ideogram
Why Web 3.0 Is Hard To Comprehend
It appears the masses are having a tough time comprehending the concept of Web 3.0.
Looking at the acceleration of change, this is natural. With this, we are not looking at a particular product. Rather, this is a complete reinvention how the digital world is structured.
This does not mean, however, that everything will be on blockchain. What it does say is we will see these technologies interwoven throughout our entire lives.
Consider, for a moment, how we are affected by servers. This is a fundamental device in the world of networked computing. How many times a day do you interact with a server? It is a question that cannot be answered. Even if we aren't "online", we are. Our phones, cars, television, and even doorbells are all connected. This is only compounded each time we do anything such as sending a text. Where do you think that ends up?
We also have a bias towards large entities.
Each time a major entity fails, people are surprised. This is true even if the proverbial writing was on the wall. The fall of Sears in the United States is an example. It is a company that is on life support, something that took place more than a decade ago. When it does finally go under, people will be amazed at the fall.
The too big to fail was hammered into us. Unfortunately, this is not based upon technological progress. When I write about the decline, and eventual, fall of Hollywood, some dispute this viewpoint. It is something they cannot comprehend. Yet, as time passes, we are seeing a shift that is not aligning with the traditional film and television studios.
At this point, much of the holdup is generational.
I often dive into how Web 3.0 will have an impact upon this industry also. So far, most of the destruction is occurring without Web 3.0 having an impact. What happens when that really starts to penetrate the psyche of people?
The essence of this discussion is the magnitude of what we are focusing upon.
No Overnight Success
There is a flip side to this equation.
So far, this article focused upon the rapid pace of change. We have the equally as viable issue that things are slow to develop.
Here is where hype, bubbles, and expectations enter.
It is possible for people to get ahead of where the technology stands. This leads to a discounting of the future impact simply because some might see it talked about, but it is not happening in real time.
Switching to a digital world where networks are abundant, is an example.
The present Internet is one that is siloed. Each day, a handful of network gobble up most of the traffic. These are some of the best known companies. Amazon, PayPal, Meta, Google, X, and Spotify are examples.
Web 3.0 is world of abundant networks. One of the advantages to blockchain is the network can be duplicated many times over. This is true for the database, as long as we are dealing with something permissionless.
That is something completely new. It is also, to the average person, as relevant as a foreign galaxy. Most do not care about this.
Here is the disconnect. Since it is not something to excite the masses, they ignore it. However, each day, this is only growing in size. More is showing up whether it is compute, data, or transactions. New networks are forming, We also have applications being build on top, only feeding further into this.
For many, the Internet was just there.
In the developed world, one has to be over 40 to truly remember the pre-Internet days. That means we did not see all that went into the development of this revolutionary technology.
This is not the case for Web 3.0.
We are all living through the foundation that is being put in place. Building networks is exciting to some but nothing that garners are great deal of attention. It also does not spur the masses to jump on board.
Word like software architecture, clients, servers, and interoperability will put the majority to sleep. This is the basis for the transformation.
Technological Progression
The reality is that permission from the masses is not required for Web 3.0 to engulf their lives.
It is going to be a transition that occurs without the knowledge of most. There will be a day where they are simply on Web 3.0, at least to some degree. We will never see a world where all databases are on blockchain. However, we are going to see tokenization embedded in many things.
As they say, we will know Web 3.0 arrived when we stop talking about Web 3.0.
This is how technology progress.
Did the masses rise up claiming they wanted streaming and the end of having to drive to the video store? Not in the least.
Hell, another old saying is asking people in the horse adndbuggy days what they wanted, the answer would be "faster horses".
It is a story repeated throughout the last 150 years. Technology starts slow and then runs over all that is in its way.
Marc Andreeson is known for his proclamation that "software is eating the world". When he made that statement, it was hard to see. In fact, some took exception to it years later, asserting that he was wrong.
As we progress through the 2020s, with the introduction of generative AI, we are starting to see that, perhaps, this is the case.
Web 2.0 was an evolution of the Internet. It happened over a period of years. In the same manner, Web 3.0 is just another phase.
The key difference is that the Internet is something much bigger than it was in the past. If we factor in things such as robots, we can see how much this is going to penetrate.
Overall, it is happening without the masses even noticing.