jakiro
Source: Meng Yan’s Blockchain Thoughts
Two days ago, I published my outlook on the development situation of Web3 in 2024, and put forward the view that we should get rid of the “decentralization of fundamentalism”.Because “decentralization” is a widely spread and a banner of blockchain, so I said that getting rid of decentralization means going beyond blockchain.This view was expressed from me, a long-time evangelist in the blockchain industry, which really surprised some people.In that article, due to space limitations, I didn’t go into it. Some friends hoped that I would introduce it in the past two days.This question is not complicated, so you can introduce it.
My proposition is certainly not to abandon blockchains or return to centralization, but to let them return to their place.Blockchain is just a tool in the Web3 toolbox. Decentralization is just a feasible way to solve a certain type of problem. They are not the whole of Web3, but just a specific tool to solve a specific problem.Treating blockchain and decentralization as “two whatevers” actually restricts the development of Web3 innovation and large-scale applications.
1. Web3 is a trusted Internet under the prerequisite of autonomy
The core value proposition of Web1 is Internet sharing, the core value proposition of Web2 is user experience, and the core value proposition of Web3 is credible.
Web3’s vision is to create a trusted Internet of value, or a trusted digital economy.What is credibility?It is in this network that any two people in the world interact according to rules and contracts. Whether it is economic or social behavior, everything is in a proper manner. No one can turn aside or turn aside. The meaning of contract between peopleThe superiors are equal, and no one can breach the contract and cheat or bully others at will.Everyone can be very confident in doing business with anyone they just met a second ago.
Web3 emphasizes security and trustworthiness, but it does not mean that what Web2 pursues is insecure and untrustworthy.In fact, Web2 has been working hard for more than 30 years, and security and trustworthiness are also its important goal.So although the core value proposition of Web3 is security and trustworthiness, Web2 can also improve the level of security and trustworthiness.What really distinguishes Web3 from Web2 is actually a prerequisite.
Web2 is hosted, Web3 is autonomous.
The prerequisite for Web3 is autonomy, allowing you to own and control your own accounts, assets, social relationships and data.The security and trustworthiness of Web3 are security and trustworthiness under this premise, which is completely different from Web2.
Web2 can also be used to manage and transmit value, and will also pursue security and trustworthiness. Alipay, WeChat and various online banking are all based on the Internet to manage value and continuously improve the level of security and trustworthiness.The Internet industry has made 20 or 30 years of hard work, making this system very mature and has a particularly good user experience.However, none of them are autonomous.Using these Internet systems, you are actually giving your money, your data, your social relationships, and even your account and identity to others for hosting.Some Web3 fans say that it is not safe because it is hosted in other people’s hands, and this is not realistic.Objectively speaking, for most people, in most cases, it is safer to put money in the bank than to manage it yourself.
However, the Web2 hosting architecture naturally allows, encourages, tempts, and even forces the strong party to breach, cheat, bully, and deceive the weak party. The strong party must work very hard, restrain, be very self-disciplined, and endure it very anti-humanlyOnly by staying in this way can one not breach the contract, cheat, deceive, bully the weak. The weak must be very lucky, very lucky, very lucky, very lucky to be not breached, cheated, deceived, and bully.The four “very lucky” used here are not typos, but because in the natural structure of Web2, the weak side wants to avoid being breached, cheated, or bullying, except praying forBeyond luck, you can do nothing.
The technical architecture of Web3 is naturally to equally protect the rights and interests of both parties in the contract. The legal rights of users in Web3 are protected. It is not given by one party out of goodwill or self-discipline, but is naturally determined by the entire technical architecture and is what anyone wantsThere is nothing to do if you don’t accept it.This is ultimately determined by cryptography, mathematical, and is given by God, and does not need to rely on anyone’s kindness or self-discipline.
What does Web3 autonomy mean?Means true freedom in the digital world.We know that in the modern value system, freedom precedes all other values.If a person only emphasizes safety without considering freedom, then it is safest to lock himself in the basement and never see the light of day.If a society only emphasizes safety without considering freedom, it is safest to put all the people in prison.This is obviously ridiculous.In modern society, if people do not have freedom, everything else will lose its meaning.
The pre-proposition of Web3 is to protect freedom under each user’s contract through digital autonomy.The freedom here is mainly based on a fair contract to have control over one’s own digital form of private assets (identity, accounts, property, social relations, data, etc.).And this dominance cannot be given to you by Web2. This is determined by the technical architecture, determined by human nature, the environment, and the centralized platform reduces operating costs and commercial competition.Can’t Web2 achieve the highest standards of user freedom and rights by respecting users’ sovereignty and super trustworthy on the basis of hosting?Ideally, it is also possible, but this Web2 platform is required to preserve the laws of nature and eliminate selfish desires. Not only is the technology super invincible, the security ability is flawless, proficient in various economic theories and cultural customs of various regions, religions and ethnic groups, but also has unlimited operating resources and characterNoble, dominate the powerful outside, punish the thieves at home, do not fear power against the superiors, be cold-hearted, behave in the inferiors, behave in the inferiors, behave in the great and noble, behave in the rich and noble, behave in the poor and humble, behave in the power of the powerful and powerful, behave in the principle of tyranny, behave in the sea,Catching the moon and catching turtles, fighting all your strength for all sentient beings, sacrifice is also worth it, becoming an immortal and a god, transcend the ordinary and become a saint, Namo Amitabha.Does such a platform exist?Of course it doesn’t exist.So in the real world, all Web2 platforms either force users to sign a contract for sale, or breach of contract, or more commonly, you have already signed a contract for sale, and you have to constantly break through the agreement in the contract for saleYou bully.
Because classical Internet platforms cannot give users autonomy, Web3 has to start a new business, not because they are full and are full and are looking for trouble, but deliberately unconventional.
2. The core technology of Web3 is modern cryptography
To be safe and credible on the basis of autonomy, technical support must be provided.This core technical support point of Web3 is modern cryptography.The modern cryptography here refers to the entire cryptography system after asymmetric cryptography.
The reason people think of Web3 is because of asymmetric cryptography.Without this technology, everyone would have been sleeping in digital slavery.
Generally speaking, when it comes to cryptography, everyone’s minds are full of scenes from Liu Yunlong’s spy war dramas.However, the cryptography in those spy war dramas is symmetric cryptography, and a secret key can be mastered in several places.This cryptography can only be used as communication encryption.Ordinary people do not understand modern cryptography, so they do not know that the application of modern cryptography has long surpassed communication encryption. Its most important and most far-reaching application is the identity authentication mechanism and authorization mechanism in the digital world.
In the asymmetric cryptographic system, we require everyone to keep their private keys and never need to be presented or shared with others. This makes private keys, like fingerprints, iris, and DNA, a tool that can identify personal identity.Web3 can be an autonomous system because of the use of private keys.What Web3 discusses is how to achieve secure computing, trustworthy value management, and on this basis, better user experience and higher performance in this autonomous digital system based on asymmetric cryptographyand other goals such as scalability.
It is not difficult to understand this point clearly. The core technology of Web3 is cryptography rather than blockchain.As long as it is based on modern cryptography mechanisms, using private keys to identify and prove identity, and using private keys to control digital assets such as accounts, property, and data, it can protect users’ autonomy and build safe and trustworthy applications on this premise.System, then it’s Web3.
3. Blockchain is a necessary component of Web3, but not all
If the core of Web3 is cryptography, then what role does blockchain play in Web3?
Blockchain is an indispensable basic component in Web3, representing an important paradigm for Web3 applications, with the following characteristics:
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The core system is run by multiple computing nodes controlled by equal entities. Each node runs exactly the same instance. Each instance is synchronized and backed up with each other, and a state consistency is reached at the macroscopic level.
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Ensure permanent trusted data storage through the highest degree of redundancy and tamper-proof mechanisms.
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All information is publicized globally, extremely transparent and extremely symmetrical.
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All nodes form consensus based on the same knowledge and information.
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Within a certain scope, any third party may conduct audits and supervision based on public information.
This paradigm is suitable for application scenarios with the following characteristics:
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Data is highly valued and worthy of high storage and management costs.
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The interests are tempting, and it is necessary to ensure that no one cheats in an extremely transparent and open manner.
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All participants can accept the setting of equal rights and symmetry of information.
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The entire system software is not very large in scale, has low performance requirements, and can sacrifice efficiency for safety and fairness.
The blockchain industry around the world has been searching for ten years and trying it for ten years. It turns out that there are not many application scenarios with the above characteristics, only high-value digital assets such as financial assets, identity, accounts, and key social relationships.The system is suitable for blockchain.
It sounds like a disheartening sound, but in fact, it is precisely this type of system that is everywhere in Web3.Web3 is largely the Internet of value, and all Web3 applications have more or less valuable creation, transfer and derivative parts.That is to say, high-value digital asset management is actually a protocol layer of Web3.Blockchain has nothing to do. As long as you do a good job in high-value digital asset management, it is already one of the indispensable pillar components in Web3, and it has become an epoch-making great innovation in the entire history of computing technology development.Now.
However, blockchain is not the whole of Web3.Technologies that meet the characteristics of Web3 include ZK (also related to blockchain), VC, DID and other cryptography technology components.These components can be cooperated with blockchain or with centralized systems to solve the problems of secure and trustworthy computing under the premise of autonomy.
4. Web3 must go beyond blockchain for large-scale application
Blockchain is only suitable for solving the problem of high-value digital asset management. Although this has given it a glorious position, it cannot conquer the world.It is very awkward to solve problems that do not fall within this category.
Most problems in the real world do not fall into this category and are not suitable for solving them with blockchain.And this is not suitable because the real world is too backward and modern people have too conservative ideas.It is not suitable now, nor is it suitable in the future, nor is it suitable in the era of AI and robots.
Why do you say so?
First of all, in most cases in the real world, information is not evenly distributed, not only not, but cannot be evenly distributed.Regarding a matter, some people must know more, some people know less, some people need to conduct in-depth research, form conclusions, and even make decisions, and some people just need to understand it briefly.If you eat “information big pot rice” and engage in absolute symmetry and equal distribution of information, there will be no division of labor and cooperation, no exchange, and no modern economy.Like blockchain, everything needs to be known as everyone knows. Let’s vote together, which is not in line with the way most things in the world are handled.
Secondly, private information exists in most cases in the real world.The privacy information is different from the asymmetric distribution of information mentioned above.Information asymmetric distribution refers to informationno needLet everyone know, and privacy information is informationcannotLet everyone know.The market economy is based on competition, and competition is based on the privacy rights of each subject to protect his own private information from being disseminated at will.Like blockchain, any information must be made public, and competition will be eliminated.This does not fit the real situation in the real world.
Third, in most cases in the real world, not everyone is equal, there is authority, and absolute fairness and security are sacrificed for efficiency.Therefore, people establish order, establish division of labor, recognize authority, and authorize some people to make decisions involving multiple interests within their contractual boundaries, and take actions, rather than discussing with everyone every step.If everything is voted on like blockchain, then the real world will be difficult to move forward and nothing can be done.
Fourth, in most cases, data value density is not high, does not require permanent storage, does not need to be ensured that it cannot be tampered with, and even most data is discarded after being used.If all data is redundant and hundreds or thousands of permanent storage is stored like blockchain, the cost will be so high that no one can afford it.
So blockchain is indeed not suitable for solving most problems in this world.This is the fundamental reason why blockchain has not been successful in real-world applications in the past decade.Blockchain is a diamond, but most of the work in this world is not about porcelain work, but about knocking on all kinds of nails.If Web3 has to use the blockchain diamond to hit the nail, it will only be a nail.
In the past decade, many blockchain projects have faced the contradiction between the real world and the blockchain paradigm. In fact, they are trying to cut their feet and make them suitable for their footwork. They are dogmatically promoting the rules of blockchain as a “more advanced” “future digital economy.Paradigm”, you can’t accept it because you are backward in your mind.Actually this is nonsense.This set of paradigm rules only applies to the field of high-value digital asset management.As for the problems outside this field, as long as the basic rules of the economy still work, as long as humans (and AI) still need to divide the work and cooperate, it was not suitable for blockchain in the past, but now it is not suitable for blockchain to solve it.It is not suitable for blockchain to solve it.
If there is only the diamond of blockchain in the Web3 toolbox, then the game over will be over so far, and Web3 will never be widely used in the real world.Fortunately, Web3 has other tools, including ZK, VC, DID, and there will be more and more tools in the future (MPC?FHE?).These tools can be used in a wider application scenario, can solve a large number of real problems in the real world, and can also serve as a bridge to sew real world applications with the Web3 value layer dominated by blockchain.Combining these tools with blockchain can solve many problems in the real world.
Therefore, if Web3 needs to be applied on a large scale, it is absolutely impossible to rely solely on blockchain.Cryptography researchers must constantly add new tools to the Web3 toolbox, and Web3 innovators must constantly combine these new tools to solve various real-world problems.
This is also the source of our confidence that Web3 will definitely defeat Web2.Because tools are developing rapidly, more and more problems can be solved, and the value that can be reflected is becoming more and more conclusive.We have seen and initially demonstrated this in the innovative practice of ERC-3525 Semi-Homonization Token (SFT), so we are particularly optimistic.
Nowadays, most people from the government, academic circles and classical Internet really look down on Web3 very much, thinking that it is just a group of people who speculate on coins and cannot use it in practice.This is a regret, but it is also a good thing.If the final rise of Web3 cannot cause a wail of “invisible, look down on, unable to understand, and too late”, it will be too lack of pleasure.
