"Web3 empowers humanity to construct the society we aspire to reside in, where each individual carries within them the innate ability to create and define their existence."
In the digital age, society has witnessed a significant transformation, with the advent of Web 2.0 serving as a catalyst for change on a global scale. However, its business model, a relic from the dominant model of the 20th century, remains largely unaltered.
Enter the blockchain, introduced by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008, a new kind of global ledger with the potential to revolutionize life on our planet. This technology, coupled with the emergence of Web3-based systems, is forging new ways of interacting, innovative business models, and entirely new industries.
Technological advancements have opened up the possibility of building a more decentralized society. Web3, the decentralized web, is the key component of a new paradigm shift towards collaboration and wider distribution of opportunities. By harnessing the transformative power of Web3, individuals can collectively build the world they want to live in, rooted in this new trust foundation.
Joseph Lubin, a prominent figure in the Web3 community, envisions a more decentralized society through blockchain technology and Web3. He sees this new system as one where traditional governance evolves into a hybrid system combining network states and nation states that collaborate using shared infrastructure. This system leverages decentralized trust, transparency, and programmable protocols to enhance accountability, combat inefficiencies, and enable new forms of social, environmental, and political coordination beyond what existing institutions can manage.
Lubin views Ethereum as the foundational "next settlement layer" or "world computer" for civilization, providing the infrastructure for a parallel financial system and digital ownership. This enables decentralized communities to govern themselves and make collective decisions without central authority, radically transforming how value moves and how applications operate. Through this, people can participate simultaneously in geographic and interest-based communities, dramatically increasing agency and collaboration.
This vision suggests that decentralized blockchain technology will not eliminate traditional governance, but rather reboot global coordination systems to better handle complex interconnected challenges. By empowering individuals with economic, social, and political agency, Web3 positions itself as critical to societal prosperity and evolution in the coming decades.
The power is becoming distributed through the diverse creativity of the growing Web3 ecosystem via progressive decentralization. Contributions to Web3 can come from various roles, including developers, researchers, entrepreneurs, artists, writers, musicians, educators, and more. Each unique perspective contributes to the collective essence and wisdom at the core of this paradigm shift to a more decentralized future.
In conclusion, the Web3 paradigm shift contrasts the business models of the last millennia, where corporations operated adversarially with customers. The builder spark is alive in each individual in the Web3 community, and together, they are building a more equitable, collaborative, and decentralized future.
[1] Joseph Lubin, Consensus 2018, New York, May 14-16, 2018. [2] Joseph Lubin, Ethereum Enterprise Summit, New York, November 29-30, 2017. [3] Joseph Lubin, Blockchain Summit, London, October 18, 2017.
This article was originally published on Lucidity Insights, a partner of Middle East in developing special reports on the Middle East and Africa's tech and entrepreneurial ecosystems.
- Joseph Lubin, a leader in the Web3 community, sees a future where blockchain technology and Web3 foster a more decentralized society, evolving traditional governance into a hybrid system that collaborates using shared infrastructure.
- In this new system, decentralized trust, transparency, and programmable protocols will enhance accountability, combat inefficiencies, and enable new forms of social, environmental, and political coordination.
- Ethereum, envisioned by Lubin as the foundational "next settlement layer" or "world computer" for civilization, provides the infrastructure for a parallel financial system and digital ownership.
- This setup enables decentralized communities to govern themselves and make collective decisions without central authority, radically transforming how value moves and applications operate.
- As the power is becoming distributed through the creative efforts of the Web3 ecosystem, contributions can come from various roles, such as developers, researchers, educators, and artists, each adding a unique perspective to the collective essence of this decentralized future.
- By adopting the Web3 paradigm, society can move towards a more equitable, collaborative, and decentralized future, away from the adversarial relationships between corporations and customers characteristic of traditional business models.
