Web 3 is Flawed
2022-06-19A few quick notes on Web3
Web 3 goes against the core promise of the internet which tries to be a great equalizer.
The Web was about making information accessible to all, Web 3 is trying to provide value to a few, where everything is done for the benefit of the few rather than benefit of all.
Web 2 gave us Wikipedia, Google search, Facebook and more. They are not perfect systems, any system which involves humans will have loopholes & problems driven by greed and a hunger for power. But, they did act as an equalizer. Where is Wikipedia of Web3? Wikipedia never started with the mission of making it's contributors rich.
Token Economics is the product.
Web3 is pitched as something that helps the creators make money, but folks rarely talk about what problems it is solving.
Folks spend more time marketing their tokens, doing free airdrops, and growing their discord rather than building products. They are more focused on trying to increase the price of the token where they will actually derive value.
In short, when the token becomes the asset it becomes the product, and the ability to transact value before the product is built. This gives it priority over the actual product. If there was a vesting period for tokens, most folks would never buy the token
There is no problem being solved
When a real problem is solved, there is value generated for someone, who then is willing to exchange money for the value provided. With Web3 world, value is generated before any exchange happens, folks are first pitched on how valuable something is, and then given the token for free via airdrops. This mechanism is flawed.
Ownership and wealth generation are already solved in the current world, they are not perfect solutions, but they still do a bit more to protect a layman from losing their savings.
The only real problem Crypto solves is that of an asset store for the oppressed as they move to more democratically free areas of the world, but it comes with a lot of complexity as technology is hard for most folks and the rise of losing money due to rate fluctuations.
Keeping an open Mind
These are my personal strong opinions, which are weakly held. While I am currently bearish on most of the Crypto, I am open to learning about any real problems crypto is solving, hit me up on Twitter
More Opinions
Other people's concerns around all things web3
Moxie on the technology of NFTs
Aaron Levie has recently been critical of it in various tweets here, here and here