Features of Web 3.0

Up to this point, Web 3.0 has been primarily defined by what it does. But what makes all of this possible? What specific features and characteristics provide all of this functionality? Web 3.0 is made up of a vast array of different features. But the following are the most important parts of Web 3.0.

Decentralization

Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 usually keep resources centralized to a few locations. The user has a computing device that accesses a URL via HTTP. The URL translates to a specific server which might draw content from a few other similar systems. This has changed dramatically with Web 3.0.
The weakest phone today is comparable to supercomputers from a decade back. Web 3.0 leverages the vast amount of power in even the smallest client systems. The web servers now use cloud computing to abstract various file locations or databases over multiple systems. Even code in web applications might come from multiple sources.

Artificial Intelligence

AI is a form of machine learning which lets computers act as semi-autonomous agents. Web 3.0 finally turns this potential into reality. At the moment, a lot of this power is going into commerce. One of AI's biggest strengths is pattern recognition. Machine learning is excellent at comparing spending patterns to determine what products people would like. But the future of AI in Web 3.0 is limitless.
Anything that requires decision-making can benefit from AI's access to unlimited information and blindly fast speeds. Even sectors like medication development and manufacturing are starting to see solid returns from AI-powered systems.

Connectivity and Ubiquity

It's important to remember that Web 3.0 technologies are usually interconnected. Some of the strongest AI consists of many smaller processors linking together to form something unique. That same technique can apply to the average person's life as well.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is a part of Web 3.0, linking everyday items. Consider a fridge that adds items to the grocery list. Or the usefulness of blinds that can recognize when the sun's warming the home up too much. Web 3.0 links servers, programs, and apps together. And the IoT is growing too.

Trustless & Permissionless

Web 3.0 also works on a trustless and permissionless platform. Trustless refers to the fact that there's no need for a trusted gatekeeper. Users can encounter each other just as they would in the real world - without 3^rd party's go-ahead. Permissions imply something similar but still distinct. Permissionless systems imply that anyone can participate in a process without the authorization of a governing body.
Trustless and permissionless systems are exemplified by metaverse implementations that users create. These Web 3.0 systems let people access and even create virtualized environments. People can create open worlds for each other.

A Brief History of the Internet

Although the definitions may vary for the different ages of the web, but it can be broken down into three basic generations.

Web 1.0

Web 1.0 was the first generation of the internet. This had basic web pages that were accessible and commercialized for the first time. Protocols such as HTTP, HTML and XML come from the dawn of the world wide web.

The first web browsers came during web 1.0, the first ISPs that allowed you to connect (via dial-up), and the first web development tools. Software languages such as Java and Javascript originate during this time too. All in all, it was early days for the internet.

Web 2.0

Web 2.0 refers to the participatory culture that has grown on the internet through user generated content, social media and widespread accessibility.

Web 2.0 has led to a shift in the way in which we access the world wide web. We can now go on our phone and we have tons of apps at the tip of our fingers, with hundreds of new ones added to app stores every day. Our phones have cameras built in that are higher quality than most actual cameras from the web 1.0 days. Today, anyone can be a content creator and share their content 24/7; this is a fundamental part of web 2.0. Despite all this, the main distinction between web 1.0 and web 2.0 is the widespread mobile internet access. This is global. Almost 4 billion people have internet access today, compared to just 1 billion in 2005.

It's hard not to mention that web 2.0 is also responsible for putting our personal data in the hands of large centralized corporations. Big businesses make money from your personal data by selling it to marketers who conduct targeted advertising, narrowly honing in on their specific niche audience. While it means you may see more adverts for things you're interested in, you never saw a penny from the sale of your data. That is why it's so often called - exploitative advertising.

Web 3.0

The top three searches on Google attribute this term to three different people, however, it was Tim Berners-Lee who spoke about the original concept of a semantic web. In 1999, talking of his vision for the future, Berners-Lee said:

"I have a dream for the Web [in which computers] become capable of analyzing all the data on the Web - the content, links, and transactions between people and computers. A "Semantic Web", which makes this possible, has yet to emerge, but when it does, the day-to-day mechanisms of trade, bureaucracy and our daily lives will be handled by machines talking to machines. The "intelligent agents" people have touted for ages will finally materialize."

While the 'semantic web' envisioned by Berners-Lee and 'Web 3.0' are not exactly the same thing, they are often used interchangeably.

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