Web 3.0 represents a significant departure from data monopolization and autocracy. The movement is based on peer-to-peer data transactions between users instead of through intermediaries that charge fees.
The ideology of Web 3.0 is comparable to the popular rise of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies. Just like traditional currencies, monopolies own and manage data.
For example, Amazon collects customer data, stores it for its own purposes. It owns that data and does not share it with anyone else. Data transactions should be confidential from the user’s side.
Driven by the same revolutionary anti-establishment motives as the creator(s) of Bitcoin and Ethereum, Web 3.0 aims to eliminate intermediaries.
By using blockchain technology on data transactions, just like cryptocurrencies with financial ones, Web 3.0 technology does not need to explicitly gain trust through intervening bodies. Instead, trust is implicit and automatic, leading to the inevitable extinction of intermediaries.
The decentralization of Web 3.0 promotes transaction autonomy and greater engagement among users.
Large legacy data centers are complemented by a multitude of powerful computing resources distributed across mobile phones, computers, devices, sensors, and vehicles, which are expected to produce and consume 160 times more data by 2025 compared to 2010.
This new era in communication represents two major shifts for society:
- Increased capacity for people and entities to enhance efficiency and productivity by having access to a greater amount of data.
- Democratization of data and increased security over transactions.
Change in Economic Philosophy
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development defines the concept of the creative economy as: "An evolving concept based on the interplay of human creativity and ideas of that intellectual property, knowledge, and technology.“
Essentially, these are economic activities based on knowledge that underpin creative industries. The creative economy recognizes and values ideas as commodities. Creativity takes precedence over raw production. Innovations surpass production.
Web 3.0 Enhances the Creative Economy with Reliable Data
Increased availability of reliable data through Web 3.0 technology promotes innovation and entrepreneurship, key driving factors of the creative economy.
A key example of Web 3.0 technologies serving the creative economy is the recent rise of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
From a broader perspective, NFTs represent commodities of creative ideas. Through blockchain, one of the pillars of Web 3.0 technology, NFTs trade directly and in a way that does not require trust without the „reserve banks of the internet“ taking their margin.
The creative economy is gaining significant traction on the agendas of regulatory institutions, governments, and think tanks of technology companies.
With the rise of artificial intelligence and robotics, raw production coming from humans decreases demand. Why would companies pay a human to do it when a robot can do it for a fraction of the cost?
Ideas on Raw Labor and Production
As a result, creativity becomes the new outlet for production. However, with a significant shift in global economic ideology, there must be a framework to protect privacy and rights, as well as to provide legal remedies for major forms of inequality.
Peer-to-peer, blockchain technology used in Web 3.0 facilitates this and implements democratized platforms. There are several widely available Web 3.0 technologies that serve the creative economy:
1. NFTs
An NFT is a unit of data stored on a digital ledger, called blockchain, that certifies that a digital asset is unique and therefore non-fungible. They commodify digital art and ideas.
2. Fractional NFTs
This is the next step in the evolution of NFTs, the division of ownership. Therefore, fractional NFTs become a logical and inevitable step in that process, especially considering the acceptance of the sharing economy. Besides sharing apartments and cars, we can now share art and ideas as well.
Empowerment through Data Ownership
Overall, intangible assets fit perfectly into NFTs and give them the opportunity to have increased liquidity and value.
Thus, this shift in the way we perceive data transactions transcends discussions solely about technology and represents a significant social shift.
Like cryptocurrencies, reliable data transactions represent a bottom-up structure, rather than one that is monitored, taxed, and monopolized by companies like Facebook and Amazon.
Moreover, Web 3.0 technologies could empower more complex solutions like a decentralized evaluation system. These are peer-review platforms and blockchain protocols for assessing intellectual capital, research, and innovation.
With democratization comes more innovation. Furthermore, with more innovation comes more opportunities for growth, especially for the creative economy.
