Those who control the internet, control the future.
Despite still being a relatively new technology, it has one of the fastest development and adaptation rates. It also has a significant impact on our lives.
Due to the internet, we now live in an era of knowledge - a fast Google search can provide an immediate answer to any of your curious questions. But can we trust all the answers?
If the internet was a decentralized entity - as it was in the beginning - we could. But is it now?
Almost the whole internet is owned by a few companies such as Google, Meta and Amazon. These corporations can choose what we see and don’t - and they have been guilty of censorship in the past.
This is where the idea of Web3 comes into the picture: it is said to be another step for the internet. Based on blockchain, Web3 allows users to control their data and decentralizes the internet as we know it today. Web3 also allows the participants to earn via various activities such as staking and gaming.
A brief history of the internet
While it is impossible to pinpoint one exact date, September 2nd, 1969 can be considered to be the birthday of the internet. On this day, Leonard Kleinrock managed to connect two local computers. It might not sound impressive to modern ears, but it was a big step toward the internet we know today.
In 1991 World Wide Web was opened to the public. This is momentous because the World Wide Web allowed users to visit and create websites that can be viewed anywhere - and by end of 1993, more than 600 websites were available.
While some of the first websites that date back to the early World Wide Web are still used today (Bloomberg, IMDb, MTV), many of them have been shut down by now.
For example, back in 1993, the first webcam website called Trojan Room Coffee Pot was launched. It displayed a coffee pot located in the Computer Laboratory of the University of Cambridge. The website allowed office workers to check the status of their favorite caffeinated beverage without leaving their desks. Quite convenient!
Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end: Trojan Room Coffee Pot retired in 2001. During its career, the coffee pot has managed to reach more than 2 million views - a quite impressive number even by today’s standards.
As the internet grew and became more prevalent in our day-to-day lives, some people noticed a trend that allows us to distinguish between three phases of the web’s evolution.
Web1: Read-only internet
Trojan Room Coffee Pot was a fun website for the early internet dwellers. After all, it was the first webcam website - no one had ever done this before. How exciting it was to check on the coffee pot, even if you live miles from it, or should I say especially if you do?
Not that people in the 90s hadn't anything better to do - but the coffee stream captivated attention. It was new and signified a huge step for humanity. People coming to the website could see the future in the coffee pot - it was not the addictive drink that mattered, it was the possibilities the technology had.
The internet offered what others couldn't - an instant connection with the world.
However, before the internet gave us even more addictive entities such as social media, it was read-only. Leaving a comment wasn't a thing on Trojan Room Coffee Pot website, nor were there websites that allowed you to post your content.
Creating a website during the Web1 period was not a simple task - so most of the Internet users were consumers only.
Around 2003, a new era started.
Web2: User-generated internet and the dominance of large corporates
Two important things have changed during the Web2 period of the internet.
1. Users were enabled to interact with websites and create their own content
Imagine Facebook without any posts that come from your friends or acquaintances. Just ads, ads, ads... Facebook would be dead without a chance of resurrection.
People come to social media to check on their relatives, post a link to a funny YouTube video, or maybe stalk their ex that they broke up with in 2015. All that is created by users, not social media itself.
While some content creators can make a living from posting online (such as YouTubers), most of us share our photos, videos, opinions and such for free.
Someone else is earning from us by attracting visitors to user-created content websites.
2. Websites were enabled to collect data from their users and use it for their own gain
As you browse the internet, you leave a footprint.
For example, most websites have Facebook Pixel integrated into them. This allows the website owners to collect data about you as you visit the site - and later on, serve you ads based on your history.
It is not a secret that clicking on a product somewhere on an e-commerce website will most likely be used as a crucial data point allowing marketers to retarget you and show the ad for that specific item on Facebook. After all, this is how Facebook earns money.
While it is a default for any free platform to be earning through ads, the main problem arises when monopolies are created and users are forced to give out their data to them.
3. The internet became more centralized
The internet gives freedom. Ideally. If you are lucky and your freedom aligns with your government's ideas.
For example, Google has been criticized for censorship in China numerous times.
It wouldn't end the world if there would be a lot of alternatives but... As the internet grew, the monopolies creating it became stronger. Right now, most of the internet is owned by a few tech companies such as Alphabet (Google), Meta, Amazon.
Keeping in mind that these giants are also collecting our data while we create content for them, it becomes obvious that some things could be done better.
And the world is moving - slowly but steadily - to Web3.
Web3: Decentralized internet allowing users to earn
The term Web3 was coined by Ethereum co-founder Gavin Wood back in 2014.
He noted that centralization brings a tremendous risk - if something goes wrong, everything falls apart. Not only that, centralized internet raises trust issues as they can censor as they please.
In essence, Web3 is a more democratic and truly decentralized version of the current internet. It is mainly possible due to blockchain technology that gives tools to create decentralized websites and applications.
Since blockchain technology came first, Web3 grew out of it as an idea. Even today Web3 is mostly still in process, as the adaptation of blockchain just started.
So what is so special about blockchain and why is it the main tool to create Web3?
Let's talk about Bitcoin. Digital gold, a new way to make online transactions, a fast and secure alternative to banks - all this could be said about Bitcoin and more as it is a decentralized currency.
If you don't know (or care) how decentralization works with cryptocurrency, Bitcoin might not seem so special. It's not the only digital currency after all - nowadays almost all of our money is digital.
But Bitcoin is not stored in one bank. Bitcoin is not stored in one computer. Bitcoin is a currency that lives on countless devices. Want to make a transaction? Please check with these devices first.
Your transaction no longer depends on your bank, a single entity. And the great part is that anyone can help the network by validating transactions, and thus earn fees.
Web3 is growing out of the idea of Bitcoin. The aim is to create platforms that are decentralized in such a way that they allow users to control their data and even earn from participating in them.
Mars4: Web3 game that gives the players tools to earn and control the game
Without tangible execution, Web3 is just an idea.
The team behind Mars4 are hardcore believers in Web3 and is building a game that would live out to the expectations to create a decentralized and profitable platform.
Mars4 is a metaverse that allows players to own a piece of virtual Mars land, explore it and earn from it.
Instead of hoarding all of the revenue in the company's hands, Mars4 has created a revenue distribution tool. This tool is called the community pool. A portion of Mars4 revenue goes directly into it. Later on, it is redistributed to NFT holders, thus allowing investors to collect passive income.
The active game is also a stream of revenue for the Mars4 community. NFTs (lands and other in-game assets such as vehicles) and native cryptocurrency (Mars4$) are integrated into the Mars4 ecosystem to enable the players to earn by simply playing the game.
Mars4 is also taking the first steps in creating a DAO.
Mars4 already allows players to vote for a few proposals via Discord. All of the ideas that were put for voting were originally suggested by the community itself. Right now every landowner can vote and dictate the future of Mars4.
Want to be a part of Web3?
Become a landowner with 30% off and start your Mars4 journey. In addition, you can purchase Mars4 vehicles with 10% off.