Revolutionizing the Internet: The Movement of Web3 and the Fight for User Control

Experience the conversation between host Johannes and Yasmin Al-Douri about the web3 movement and the challenges it faces. They discussed Tim Berners-Lee’s critique of blockchain and the potential privacy concerns it poses and they speculated about Berners-Lee’s ongoing project, Solid, which was envisioned to fix these concerns. They also explored Jaron Lanier’s data wallet approach as a possible solution to people owning their own data.

What is perhaps most striking, is the realization that the web3 movement is not just about technology, but about a broader movement towards a more decentralized and user-controlled Internet. It represents a shift away from the current centralized model, where large corporations and governments wield significant power and influence over the internet and its users.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM6XIICm_qo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdEuII9cv-U&t=597s

00:00 The web3 movement
00:35 welcoming message
00:39 introducing Yasmin Al-Douri
04:11 Web3 does not exist: it is a movement, not a technology
05:03 surveillance capitalism
05:27 web 3: a revolutionary movement to counter surveillance capitalism
07:01 the blockchain is not decentralized
08:05 the malaise of decentralization: the practical aspects of the Internet being more centralized
09:56 speculations about Solid as a potential basis for web3
13:01 why we should really care about our data
13:43 one goal of web3 is to allow people to share in profits from their own data
13:55 autonomy for the users and data dignity
15:51 Facebook and Google are just marketing firms
16:32 entertainment? propaganda? personalisation for the ultimate marketing and propaganda machine
20:17 a human right to own your data
23:03 a major critique of the human rights approach: it may disadvantage small enterprises
25:31 other policy ideas to help the smaller businesses (subsidies)
28:49 the human rights aproach: a coordination problem
30:36 a global Internet regulary organization is needed
32:02 the safety of the Internet; an important but neglected subject
34:30 a data wallet
35:46 data ownership: the human right that might lead to a dystopian society?
41:07 would solving inequality resolve the data ownership dystopia?
44:15 the variations of inequities
45:05
50:44 the critics of the critics
51:40 deriving a universal basic income from our data
52:53 where is your data?
54:22 the next generation of surveillance capitalism
54:59 conclusion: the data wallet approach seems to be the most solid one
56:30 why crypto together with the peer to peer and collaborative economies still aren’t web3
58:54 VCs centralize the blockchain and have too much power
01:01:58 reductio ad absurdum; why blockchain ain’t web3
01:05:13 the myths that are born of opacity: the problem with unexplainability, or lack of good explanations
01:10:37 of crypto snake oil salesmen
01:12:17 some speculations on quantum
01:13:02 conclusion and takeaways: web3 is a movement with good ideas