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How to Think About web3

In 2018, I compiled a mini-syllabus of writings about blockchain and cryptocurrency that was meant to help people orient themselves to what it is about the blockchain and cryptocurrency space that was new and important. That piece has held up remarkably well, but many things have changed since that time including the idea of web3 becoming much more prominent.

Without getting bogged down into the definitional gymnastics of what “web3” is or isn’t I thought it would be useful to put together an updated syllabus, of sorts, focused on some of these developments. The articles are addressed chronologically and build upon each other. The tl;dr is that the big promise of web3 is greater user control over their online experience and data.

The Articles

  1. The Dawn of Trustworthy Computing – Nick Szabo
  2. Money, Blockchains, and Social Scalability – Nick Szabo
  3. Protocols, Not Platforms: A Technological Approach to Free Speech – Mike Masnick
  4. web3 The Rise of the Aligned Web – Jon Stokes
  5. web3 Critics Misunderstand Decentralization – Chris Dixon
  6. Why Build in web3 – Jad Esber and Scott Duke Kominers

If you read these six articles my hope is that you will have all the intellectual framing necessary to appreciate why web3 may be the next stage of the Internet or decide that it is simply more hype for the insatiable hype train. Happy reading.

The Dawn of Trustworthy Computing – Nick Szabo

This blog post was originally featured in the 2018 mini-syllabus, and the central theme of the post is how we trust computers to act in certain ways, and how we might better manage trust, in general. The author, Nick Szabo, is controversial, but his piece is timeless in our age of deep fakes, generative AI, and online disinformation. This is a dense, but worthwhile read.

Money, Blockchains, and Social Scalability – Nick Szabo

One more blog post from Nick Szabo, but this post dives deep into the social aspect of these new types of networks. In particular, the post introduces the idea of social scalability, which in a sense includes everything that occurs off-chain and how one might think about managing incentives.

Protocols, Not Platforms: A Technological Approach to Free Speech – Mike Masnick

This is the most academic piece of writing of the bunch. The author, Mike Masnick, is a prominent tech blogger and the founder of Techdirt, which is always a great read. The piece gives an excellent treatment to how we might reimagine speech online and makes a compelling case for switching “…to a world where protocols and not proprietary platforms dominate would solve many issues currently facing the internet today.”

web3 The Rise of the Aligned Web – Jon Stokes

This piece from Jon Stokes, co-founder of Ars Technica a prominent tech news site, is the most important piece of the bunch. Why? Stokes does a masterful job of laying bare the nature of our relationships on the Internet, especially with respect to platforms. The post also makes clear why web3 may change those relationships.

web3 Critics Misunderstand Decentralization – Chris Dixon

This short blog post derived from a tweetstorm from a16z venture capitalist Chris Dixon focuses on the network potential of web3 and how it empowers users even if some of the user interaction is via centralized services that are not themselves decentralized. Decentralization is an oft discussed, rarely understood concept in the web3 space, but this post goes a long way to further your understanding of decentralization.

Why Build in web3 – Jad Esber and Scott Duke Kominers

This last piece in Harvard Business Review makes the case that launching a web3 company is easier for a variety of reasons and that users will ultimately benefit. Mr. Esber runs a web3 company and Prof. Kominers is a professor of entrepreneurship at Harvard. One great part of the piece is how it focuses on the benefits to growing the total pie for both companies and users.

Conclusion

If you read these six blog pieces you will not know everything there is to know about web3. You will, however, have a much deeper understanding of the potential of web3 and hopefully be able to identify where it may fit into your business and life.

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Blockchain Mini-Syllabus

A mini-syllabus to understand the hype

When reading about the Blockchain space it can be very hard to separate the wheat from the chaff, especially for people just starting to learn about the technology. This problem is compounded by the prevalence of so much hype literature, and fluff, that does not do a good job of explaining why someone should actually care about this technology.

So, in an effort to address that problem I have put together a mini-syllabus of articles about blockchain, cryptocurrency, and smart contracts that are able to explain what is going on at a high level, and give concrete reasons why this technology may be so transformative.

Before I list the articles, and give a brief synopsis for each, I want to acknowledge that this effort is by definition incomplete, and somewhat subjective. There are many articles that could have been chosen, but these five articles have held up well, and will likely continue to hold up well in the future. Also, the articles were chosen for their broad treatment of the technology and it’s potential societal impact.

The Articles

  1. Why Bitcoin Matters — Marc Andreessen
  2. The Dawn of Trustworthy Computing — Nick Szabo
  3. Bitcoin and Blockchain: Two Revolutions for the Price of One? — Richard Brown
  4. Programmable Blockchains in Context — Vinay Gupta
  5. Money, Blockchains, and Social Scalability — Nick Szabo

If you read these five articles you should have a decent sense of what a blockchain is, what cryptocurrency is, and why those things may have a very large impact on how trust is managed in our world. I highly recommend you read the articles in the listed order, so you can build on the themes laid out in each article.

1. Why Bitcoin Matters

Marc Andreessen, the cofounder of Netscape and of az16, lays out the case for why Bitcoin is an important invention, but also dives into the business case for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. This editorial is a good entry point to understanding the “so what” of cryptocurrency.

2. The Dawn of Trustworthy Computing

Nick Szabo’s entire blog, “Unenumerated”, is worth checking out given the breadth of topics covered, but also the depth Szabo goes into for each topic. This post gives you a full picture of how much we trust computers to behave in certain ways, and why a new way of managing trust enabled by blockchain may change many facets of society.

If you’re feeling ambitious, make sure to check out his “Wet code and dry” post that he links to at the bottom of the post.

3. Bitcoin and Blockchain: Two Revolutions for the Price of One?

Richard Brown is the head of technology at R3 where he is working on rebuilding finance with distributed ledger technology. In this post, Brown masterfully explains why large organizations are intrigued by blockchain, but not necessarily Bitcoin. The rest of Brown’s blog covering concepts in finance and where things are heading is worth your time.

4. Programmable Blockchains in Context 

Vinay Gupta helped coordinate the release of Ethereum in 2015. In this post, he lays the foundation for why something like Ethereum is compelling by giving a history of the technology that came before blockchain.  This post is a great primer on how humans have managed data in the digital age.

Bonus post: check out Gupta’s “A Brief History of Blockchain” at the Harvard Business Review.

5. Money, Blockchains, and Social Scalability 

Lastly, we have another Szabo blog post. I told you his blog was worthwhile. In this post, Szabo tackles issues of scalability related to blockchain, in particular, the issue of social scalability, which he defines as:

“the ability of an institution –- a relationship or shared endeavor, in which multiple people repeatedly participate, and featuring customs, rules, or other features which constrain or motivate participants’ behaviors — to overcome shortcomings in human minds and in the motivating or constraining aspects of said institution that limit who or how many can successfully participate.”

This is the longest post, but arguably the most important of the five.

Conclusion

If you read these five blog posts you will not know everything there is to know about blockchain, cryptocurrency, and smart contracts. You will, however, have a very good handle on the basics, and should be able to understand the promise of this new technology class.