We need web 3.0 to be a web that we can trust, or we risk being washed away by torrents of disinformation.
Since the dawn of the century, web 3.0 has promised to reshape how we engage with information and value online.
It's probably lost on most readers, but the two principle claimants to web 3.0 are in mild dispute.
There are two contenders for one crown: Resource Description Framework (RDF) and the blockchains.
Let's (re)imagine them as fact webs and trust chains respectively.
Imagine a mind map branching out to represent knowledge, interconnected with meaning - a web of facts.
As the language of linked data, RDF went largely unnoticed, quietly laying the groundwork for a semantic revolution.
Some enterprise readers may recall the semantic web or knowledge graphs, abstract ideas that we grasp better than we think.
It will surprise very few that all of these AI, GPTs and LLMs understands this stuff too.
Far fewer, that RDF was also dubbed "Web 3.0", back in the early 2000s, a decade before the crypto-community reimagined and rebranded it.
RDFs legacy lives-on in SEO and the rich snippets that still power the Web 2.0 clouds and social networks - giant private knowledge graphs.
Maybe together, they hint at a solution to the trust crisis ?
If RDF and smart contracts define Web 3.0, then trust and transparency can emerge as early key benefits of the AI era.
On the shoulders of giants ... we're closer to AI we can trust
Smart contracts, our second contender, emerged as blockchain's powerhouse, ensuring transparent and autonomous transactions.
Smart contracts enforce trust in Web 3.0 transactions, eliminating intermediaries and executing agreements autonomously.
Trust chains on the blockchain extend this idea by establishing verifiable provenance, a decentralized web of trusted facts.
Integrating smart contracts with fact webs enhances accountability, enabling autonomous decisions based on verifiable information.
Together, they move us closer to realizing a decentralized and trustworthy internet.
RDF's semantic interoperability and smart contracts' decentralized governance can unite to form the bedrock of trust in Web 3.0.
The trusted web can empower both human and AI users to navigate with confidence and certainty.
The immutable, tamper-proof IPFS (Interplanetary File System) stores facts forever.
ipfs:// URL.Our facts are now grounded on IPFS and cryptographically notarized by the blockchain.