Web 3.0: The Verifiable Internet
We see a lot that is lost in the discussion about Web 3.0. Because of the primary focus on prices and green candles, few realize the opportunity presented.
Bitcoin was sprung with the promise of monetary freedom. The idea was to establish a system that could operate outside the scope of the traditional financial system. What this means is that financial intermediaries like Wall Street were no longer required.
Of course, we see how that is working out considering they are presently working on hijacking a great deal of what was built.
That said, there is another storm brewing that is even worse than finance. While that is bad, this is a situation which I think is an order of magnitude worse.
Technology is getting to the point where trust is becoming an issue. Artificial intelligence is advancing rapidly. The usual suspects believe they have the ability to be mediators of truth. They think that regulation is going to solve things.
Naturally, we are dealing with the downside of technology. It would be great if AI did not come with this baggage. The same can be said for email. That was a wonderful innovation even though spam is a hassle.
Once again, we are looking at a world where trust is in question. Fortunately, here is where blockchain can step in.
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Web 3.0: The Defender of Truth
The benefits of AI are already being recognized.
It is going to make everyone at least twice as productive. Over time, we are going to see the technological cost curve provide even the smallest of organizations with enormous capabilities.
For example, a model that costs $100 million to train today will go for $1M-$2M in a few years. That opens up the potential to a lot more entities.
As more of this filters through the digital world, we can see how the "spam" situation can arise. This, however, can be more than a nuisance. In this regard, there are two things we have to focus upon.
The first is truth.
Most people are now conditioned to not believe what they read online. The joke is "I read it on the Internet so it must be true". That is a joke. What is real is the fact that we have to take much that is out there with a grain of salt. This is the case even for the "mainstream" (or legacy) sites.
Unfortunately, the next step is that people will not believe what they see with their own eyes. The ability to deep fake, images and videos are going to expand meaning things were simply made up. The response is to pass laws that state AI content has to have a watermark. Keep in mind, spam was outlawed in many areas too.
Blockchain can serve as a defender of truth.
This is not an absolute answer but it does go a long way to combating the problem. These networks excel at tracking history. Thus, if something is posted, it is tied to the original block. Any change is housed in another block, with a link back to the first one.
What we have is a history of the content. We know when it was posted and from whom it originated.
If there an altered video that is posted elsewhere, it is easy to go back to the original and see if it matches the latter one. Since everything is time stamped, we can determine if the latter was faked.
Naturally, this is not foolproof. If the original video is a deep fake, then we have a history of that. However, once again, we have cross referencing capabilities. This can start by going to the source of the video, such as the account that first provided the video. Over time, those who put out these fakes can be revealed.
With the use of AI, this can be done autonomously.
In other words, blockchain can be the basis since it becomes a data source, presenting a cryptographic truth.
Digital Twin
Over the years, a lot was discussed regarding digital identities. This is something that is still unresolved. It certainly is another potential proposition for blockchain. So far, nobody has come up with a wide spread solution.
That said, there is another component to this.
As we move further into the digital realm, i.e. that world expands, we are going to see the importance of our digital twins.
We all have an online persona. That is developed by our activity online. In fact, there are numerous "persons" adopted since each platform have its data (content) separated.
The problem is that a company can simply eradicate a person. It is easier than a Mafia hitman. With the flip of a switch, one can simply vanish. The situation is compounded by the fact this is often controlled by computers.
In other words, it isn't even humans shutting down the account.
Blockchain prevents this. Essentially what we have is immutability. We are eternal in the sense that our "person" cannot die or be killed. Everything we do on a blockchain is permanent.
Since there is a cryptographic key system, the platforms have no basis for account management. They are not the controlling entity. Instead, the control is ceded to the network, requiring only the associated key to interact.
Of course, this reverts back to the first situation mentioned. Trust is added simply due to the fact that once data is in a block, it cannot be deleted. This means those who engage in nefarious behavior, their accounts cannot hide from the past.
There is a lot of danger in trusting entities that have shown themselves to not be trustworthy. Even if the intention is there, the fact they are centralized organizations mean there is a number of vulnerabilities. We have seen this over the past couple decades.
Web 3.0 brings something more to the table. Blockchain is not the solution to everything but it does provide a basis for truth that does not exist presently.
This is something we see with the financial component. It is now time to expand the concept to other areas of activity.
Posted Using InLeo Alpha