Web3 Requires Its Own Data And Information

There is a lot of discussion about Web 2.0 versus what is being termed Web 3.0. Under this is web3, which is the blockchain aspect to larger technological movement. All of this will revolutionize how society will operate.

When focusing upon the digital aspect of things, we need to concentrate our efforts on the way the Internet will be altered. Obviously, the main concepts put forth are decentralization of data along with true account ownership. Both these pieces are vital as they are missing from the existing Internet structure.

The idea of account ownership is clear. At this point, few are concerned, making it a poor selling point. That might not always be the case, especially as accounts are being closed by institutions for many different reasons. Social media often gets the attention but Chase recently had a story go viral where it closed a customers account after 18 years for no reason.

However, in this article we are going to focus upon data. This is something that seems boring to most yet it imperative to our progress forward.

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Everything Has A Database

The Internet is nothing more than a series of databases.

If we break things down to the core, we have front ends, also called website, that access back end infrastructure. Contained in this is the storage of data, which is arranged in databases. This is what allows users, through the website, to access the data.

Everything website uses this. Whenever we land on a page, it is pulling data from the servers. This start with authentication info which usually consists of a username and password. The systems account management system pulls the data to determine whether to allow entry or not.

Once on the site, the user activity determines what is needed. Each new webpages gets new information from the database.

Just take a look at some of these sites and some of the database people see.

• Amazon: products with descriptions, prices, and reviews
• Spotify: audio files
• YouTube{ video files
• CNBC: financial news articles and videos
• Google Play Store: applications

The list goes on. We have sites that provide information about news, the weather, stats about markets, sports, and recipes.

Where is all this information stored?

They are in databases on servers that these websites access. Of course, being Web 2.0, these are controlled by specific companies that are behind these projects.

The main point is the Internet is dependent upon databases for its operation.

Web3 Databases

Once we fully grasp this concept, we quickly see what the problem is with Web3.

There are no databases. All the information we access is housed on Web 2.0. This means that any application is likely either going to have to utilize that data or go without. Of course, acquiring data is a time consuming process. It is also very difficult without services.

Unfortunately, this is a little discussed topic within the Web3 community. We do not hear people talking about the idea of building out robust, open databases. Instead, it is how do we get crypto to go mainstream. This is not how it is going to unfold.

The internet did not take off until there was data that applications could utilize and offer to their users. For example, search engines are nothing more than data organizers. They started from the earliest days yet required data to be effective. Hence, someone had to input the information.

Web3 is at this point. When I look at Hive I question what is really in the database. After 7 years, what information is actually applicable in terms of interest or utility?

Here is where we have to separate data and information. The data itself is valuable because it is open for anyone to use. This could be fed into some machine learning engines to create AI driven services. It is a utility that should grow as more is posted in the database.

When it comes to information, what are we really dealing with? People are not going to turn to Hive until they are able to get some answers. After all, what answers can we provide?

For example, who won the 1920 World Series? Is that something we can find on Hive? Is it anywhere on Web3? How about the way to replace a fuse in a 1996 Mazda RX7? Is that one Web3? Can we watch films or listen to music on there? What about information regarding the War of 1812?

The point being is that people have to head to Web 2.0 for this. We can keep asking these questions all day and arrive at the same conclusion.

Web3 is operating without databases. If we are really talking about the next generation of the Internet, how is that going to happen if Web 2.0 has all the data? This is a situation that is only compounded by people putting more data on those platforms.

Data Is Crucial

Data is crucial. It is also becoming very valuable.

Many often compare it to oil. While there are some flaws in this analogy, if it is the case, Web3 is a dry hole. There is no data here. Hence, we put our rigging into the ground and get dry holes.

Data generation became explosive with social media. However, we have to be careful how we look at that.

Social media creates a lot of worthless information. Much of it is time sensitive which means the shelf-life is very short. This is important in the moment as with news yet wanes quickly.

These platforms also generate huge volumes of data through tracking. This is fed into models that assimilate the data which is of benefit to advertisers. Hence, the data is valuable, once processed, but the information fairly worthless.

The final piece is simply the volume. It is no mistake that these companies are also working on huge LLMs. Facebook, Twitter, and Google all have mountains of data to train their systems.

It is obvious who is winning the data race.

However, when it comes to information, these companies are not really to be found. Google is a player because of the search engine yet it is not a destination for information. Here is where we see different entities entering.

For example, Wikipedia is the top source for information. When it comes to investing, we see sites like Investopedia. Amazon is the destination for commerce. Different sites garner the traffic for stock market information. IMDB has films covered.

In other words, the ones providing the valuable information are outside the social media platforms. Here is where a huge distinction has to be made.

Web3 is going to require its own version of these databases. What happens if a site is suddenly shut down? Since they are centralized entities, this is possible.

Even more important, who is in control of the data? These are centralized entities that control everything related to it. Even the LLMs, which are often fed the data for training, can be altered based upon the intentions of the company behind it.

None of this aligns with the tenets of Web3. When discussing the idea of open source, permissionless, and immutable, that is Web3. Web 2.0 abhors these concepts since it is 100% aligned against them. Even if the individuals wanted to alter this, the business models they operate under prevent it.

Hence the challenge for Web3.

Where Is Web3

Elon Musk once tweeted about Web3, asking where it is.

Many in the community got upset about this. However, he wasn't wrong. Let us rephrase the question: where are the Web3 databases? Where is all the information that can be used to feed into applications?

The answer, when framed in this manner, becomes obvious.

Web3 databases do not really exist. The industry was built upon distributed ledge technology, meaning there are databases of financial transactions. This is doing fairly well as each transaction tied to a blockchain is recorded.

However, the downfall comes when we spread to other areas. Where is the information upon which the next generation Internet will be built? Are people looking at building databases full of useful information that people will need?

This is something that does not appear to be the case. As long as people still head to Web 2.0 for the information needed, there will be no widespread success of Web3.

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