Web2 vs Web3: Why the Shift to a New Paradigm Is Inevitable

In recent years, the term Web3 has become quite popular. However, despite being popular, people are still torn on precisely what Web3 is and what it means for human society. Many think it's merely an internet fad.

And others believe it's the next great thing, and that it will radically reorganize the world's internet infrastructure.

My position is that Web3 isn't just a radical departure from the previous generations of the internet, it's also a paradigm shift that's largely inevitable.

This article explores why this is the case, but to get there, we need a smart contract platform that offers a radically better user and developer experience than the ones we have today.

What Is Web2 and Web3?

Web3 is the third generation of the internet. It's an improvement on the second generation, which is called Web2.

Web3 is characterized by a decentralized approach to handling user data and is a version of the internet that seeks to decenter centralized authorities. Web2, on the other hand, is the exact opposite of this.

Web2 is characterized by centralized data and centralized authority. For example, sites like Facebook and Google are part of Web2 internet. That's because these sites collect user data, host them in centralized servers, and have undue control over that data.

That's why Facebook can sell insights created from user data to businesses. Facebook can also use that data to create targeted ads that allow businesses to make more money.

The problem with this arrangement is that it's all carried out without any serious way for the end user to pushback. Everyone with a Facebook account — or everyone who goes on a Web2 site, is in some manner submitting personal information to these sites.

And this information could be used for selfish purposes.

These sites have almost total control over that data. While some government agencies try to regulate them, these companies have endless tools to prevent serious regulations.

In the end, Web2 ends up making a lot of money from selling and/or manipulating user data, and none of that money goes to the user.

The Blockchain

However, despite the clear disadvantages of Web2, an upgrade wasn't proposed to it immediately. In fact, before 2008, no one even knew what Web3 could look like.

The prevailing idea was that centralization was inevitable and was the only way the internet could work.

In 2008, the Bitcoin whitepaper was released, and the idea of the blockchain was unleashed into the world. The blockchain made it possible for developers to dream of an information flowchart that was decentralized. People no longer had to fear for the safety of their data.

Now, they could self-custody their data and a lot of other things. They could be their banks, run their game servers, and do a lot of things they couldn't do before.

The creation of the blockchain changed everything we knew about how storing data works. It created a completely new industry and started growing a new community of software engineers.

The remarkable thing about the blockchain wasn't just what it could do, it was the advantages that it brought with it. Decentralized networks meant that data was everlasting. It meant that users never had to fear their data getting lost.

Institutional Resistance

Web2 wasn't a radical divergence from Web1. In fact, Web2 was built on Web1. Web1 was characterized by web pages that had no user interaction while Web2 allowed users to interact and create content through those web pages.

That's extremely different from the sort of changes Web3 is bringing to Web2. It doesn't just promise to change the way people interact with content; it also promises to change the power structures behind those content.

Of course, this poses a huge threat to institutions that thrive on the centralized nature of Web2. This has led to institutional resistance from these companies.

However, what we know is that the seeds of Web3's growth have already been sown, and slowly but surely, people are seeing the benefits of decentralization. No one can truly tell if the idea of Web3 would replace Web2 just like Web2 replaced Web3.

Or whether both Web3 and Web2 would coexist in a single digital economy. What we do know is that the world will have to face that question sooner rather than later.

Web3 User and Developer Experience

There are many who believe that the number one problem that Web3 has to solve is its unwieldiness and complexity — both on the front end and the back end. And they are correct. A lot of the problems in Web3 are based on that simple fact.

This has inevitably affected the experience of both the user and the developer. Users are now subject to bad user experience due to unnecessary details and asset insecurity due to the inadequacies of the network.

Of course, this is a problem developers try to solve. But the fact that they have to design and test dApps to be safe through a thousand scenarios because of an inadequate infrastructure often means they are wasting their time.

The problem isn't the idea behind Web3. Instead, it's the network the dApps are built on and the computer logic they operate on.

It follows that if the internal logic of a blockchain network uses a different, more secure internal principle, the excessive complexities that require special protection would disappear.

That's the solution that Radix proposes. The Radix network has an internal logic radically different from EVM machines. It also has a different programming language called Scrypto.

Scrypto allows developers to build safer and better dApps using the stronger and more direct internal logic of Radix.

The solution both saves the developer time and allows them to build truly innovative products with incredible utilities and gives the end user a stronger product to contend with.

Why Web3 Is Inevitable

There are many, even amongst Web3 natives, who believe that Web3 is inevitable because it's simply just better tech. While that's true, it's hardly the whole story. Web3 may be better tech than Web2 in the long run, but that's not why it's inevitable.

One of the main reasons why Web3 is inevitable is because of the incredible resilience the industry has shown. New technology doesn't just have to be good, it has to be resilient. Since 2010, the Web3 economy has faced economic shock after economic shock and has continued to wax stronger.

Billionaires like Warren Buffet and Charlie Munger have described Bitcoin, the talisman of Web3, as a bubble. But this bubble has lasted more than a decade, and it's only growing stronger.

Regulations from China, America, and other important countries have shown just how badly institutions want Web3 to die. But even their combined might have done nothing but strengthen the resolve of Web3 natives.

Asides from external attacks, there have been internal issues too. The FTX debacle is a recent one, and the Mt Gox trilogy of disasters is another good example. But each time these disasters strike, the community learns from them and comes out the other side even stronger.

One must admit that Web3 has had its own share of issues, and some of them are certainly internal problems. For example, Web3 hacks are extraordinarily common.

Despite those setbacks, there are still many projects — including old networks like Ethereum and new ones like Radix — working to solve these problems.

The resilience shown by Web3 pales in comparison to the innovation it births. Almost every year, a new innovative product or technology appears on the Web3 market, opening even more avenues for progress.

The reason is simple; the values of Web3 technology — decentralization, transparency, and autonomy — are guaranteed to birth tech that will always be beneficial for common people. And that's precisely what Web3 does.

Those values are the main reasons why Web3 is currently inevitable. They are the main reasons why Web3 has sustained itself through some of the darkest times any industry has ever faced.

It's the reason why innovation is constantly happening, even during a crypto winter. It's the reason why people still believe in the blockchain.

This unwavering belief isn't really about the tech. Instead, it's about the values the tech represents. It's about the values the tech can defend. The reason why Web3 is inevitable isn't that the tech is simply better. It's because the values underpinning the tech are superior.

And that's why the shift to the new paradigm is inevitable.

To learn more about the above-mentioned project Radix and how it solves the excessive complexities and Web3 hacks, be sure to check out their recent keynote “RadFi.”