Web3, often known as Web 3.0, is a concept for a new version of the World Wide Web that is based on the blockchain technology and integrates decentralisation and token based economics. Ethereum’s co-founder Gavin Wood coined the term in the year of 2014.
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What is Web 3.0?
Web 3.0 refers to the next generation of the internet, in which apps and websites will be able to handle data in a clever human like manner using technologies such as machine learning (ML), Big Data, and decentralised ledger technology (DLT), among others. Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, dubbed Web 3.0 the Semantic Web, with the goal of creating a more autonomous, smart, and open internet. Web3 ideas vary, but they all focus around the concept of decentralisation and frequently include blockchain technologies, such as cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
Data will be interlinked in a decentralised manner, which would be a significant improvement over our present internet generation (Web 2.0), where data is generally held in centralised repositories. Users and computers will be able to engage with data as well. However, programmes must be able to comprehend information both conceptually and culturally in order for this to happen. With this in mind, the Semantic Web and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are the two cornerstones of Web 3.0.
Because Web 3.0 networks will operate via decentralised protocols — the founding network protocols of blockchain and cryptocurrency technology — it is expected to witness a strong confluence as well as symbiotic relationship between the above three technologies and other sectors. They will be interoperable, smoothly integrated, automated by smart contracts, and used to run everything from microtransactions to censorship resistant P2P data file storage and exchange through applications like Filecoin, to entirely transforming how businesses conduct and operate. The present flurry of DeFi protocols is only the beginning.
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Evolution of the Web Technology
Web 1.0 (1989 to 2004)
Despite only providing access to limited content and little to no user involvement, Web 1.0, also known as the Static Web, was the earliest and most dependable internet in the 1990s. Because there were no algorithms to sift through internet pages in Web 1.0, it was incredibly difficult for consumers to obtain useful information. Simply described, it was like a one way road with a narrow footpath wherein content was created by a small group of people and information was largely gathered through directories.
Web 2.0 (2004 to present)
Thanks to developments in internet technology such as Javascript, HTML5, CSS3, and others, the Social Web, aka Web 2.0, made the web a lot more interactive. Because data can now be transferred and shared across several platforms and applications, social media and user-generated content production have flourished.
Web 3.0 (proposed)
Web 3.0 is the next step in the evolution of the web, allowing it to process data with nea human intelligence through the deployment of AI systems that can run clever programmes to help users.
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What are Cryptocurrencies?
A cryptocurrency is a digital money that is decentralised and does not rely on a bank or central body to validate transactions. This means that no single central authority has complete control over a cryptocurrency network, making regulation and oversight impossible to implement. Any cryptocurrency is built on top of a specifically designed decentralised programme that uses blockchain technology to keep a public ledger that each node on the network copies. This approach gives the ledger the advantage of being tamper resistant, making the entire system impervious to alteration.
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What is Blockchain Technology?
It’s a collection of records that can continue to grow endlessly. To handle the movement of data between multiple nodes(also called as blocks), blockchain employs peer-to-peer networking.
“Blockchain” is a chain of blocks, as the name implies. Depending on the application’s design, the number of blocks can vary. A block is a programme instance, and numerous instances of the same programme can run on the same machine or on different machines. Different algorithms are used to find the address of a particular block in the entire chain. Each block has an address of a block preceding it, as well as the block succeeding it. Each block keeps the same data as the others, and whenever there is a legitimate addition of data on the network, it is distributed to all blocks, who update their copies of the ledger accordingly.
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