How Web3 Can Change The World: According To The Experts
It’s a funny one, predicting the future. Flying cars? Pet robot dogs? Fast and Furious 24? (That last one is definitely happening, let’s not kid ourselves.) But with Web 3.0, everything gets a little more complicated – because it’s already a concept that essentially hinges on the future. It’s essentially a vision of what the internet will look like.
But with nothing concrete to begin with (apart from boring old Web 2.0, of course), can we really predict what will happen in this emerging space? Will we really get a decentralized utopia built on core values of community or privacy? Will social media behemoths pivot and rule over us once more? (Oh hey, Meta, didn’t see you there!)
Is this a redistribution of agency, the return of power to the people, or the final brick in the unbreakable wall of big brand supremacy?
To answer all of our burning questions, we’ve enlisted some experts: three builders, founders, and thinkers of this brave new world tell us what they predict for the future of Web 3.0.
For Quynh Mai, CEO and Founder of Qulture, Web 3.0 can empower young people to truly be themselves
“I lived through the doubts people had for e-commerce until Amazon came around. I also heard the naysayers on social media when Friendster and MySpace imploded, but then along came Facebook. We are certainly at an inflection point now with the metaverse due to an overhyped media landscape and the crypto crash.
But Web3 is an inevitability. Gen Z don’t want to be controlled by platforms. They don’t want to be tracked and have their online behavior documented. They like the idea of having a digital doppelgänger in an avatar. They embrace gaming and digital goods. Those who doubt its inevitability will be left behind.
The Metaverse is the evolution of gaming. It’s where Gen Z can go and be themselves and not be judged for their looks (selfies on Instagram) or background (Facebook timeline).
They can play, meet others, buy digital goods – and most importantly, be themselves.”
For real estate expert and entrepreneur Monika Bereczova of Hoxna, Web3 can transfer power away from corporates, and back to the people
“I firmly believe that Web3 technologies will be a world changer. Back when Web 2.0 technologies were in their infancy, we also thought that they would be world-changers, and they have been: social media platforms have transformed the world, and we know more about each other than ever. However, these technologies were quickly in the grip of ‘Big Tech’; people became the product, and a small number of white men in California became very rich.
Web3 has to prevent what happened with Web 2.0. It must be ground-up. Its decentralization of tech and finance gives society a huge opportunity to shift the power back to people.
With Hoxna, we are doing exactly that: inviting everyone to join us in building a digital twin of Earth, using decentralized technologies, and rewarding our creators through crypto. Our code will be open source and our data will be available to anyone and everyone.
Let’s use this golden opportunity to transfer power back from tech giants to the people: the creators and the communities – not just the corporates.”
For Kirck Allen, CEO of Kaloscope, Web 3.0 can help save the environment and create a sustainable future
“In the future of Web3 and the metaverse lies is opportunity to do ‘good’ for the environment and earth.
There are many projects out there working on the recovery of plastic waste, such as plastiks.io. This company has digitized the recovery of plastic waste and turned them into NFTs for companies, to not only improve sustainability agenda goals, but to generate positive impact to the environment, guaranteed. Individuals get rewards from the brands they love, and all around it generates a positive social and environmental impact.
We at Kaloscope are also aiming for ‘net zero’ and have an ongoing campaign to plant over one trillion trees across Africa, backed by the United Nations. This is a project that will connect geotagged locations for trees planted and will be entirely traceable on the blockchain. NFTrees will be accessible through our app, where contributors will be able to project their assets in mobile mixed reality, or place them as decorations within their metaverse spaces.
Some of the most exciting possibilities for the future of this technology is that there could be no time differences or gaps – you can be where you want when you want instantly. There would be no great distances to have meetings in person, per se, as you could be in different countries and in the same space.
Or you could save on ‘costing the earth’ by not taking a flight somewhere and be in another city to have, say, a full shopping experience in the Harrods store in London while you are in Dubai. When we think about how many of us could not be with our families or loved ones during COVID, the possibility of eradicating experiences like that is hugely exciting.
The future of the metaverse is not an idea – it is very much here and now, and something that can be an answer to some of the problems of our present.”
Featured image by GuerrillaBuzz Crypto PR on Unsplash
