Transcriber: Amrithaa Thayaparan Reviewer: Lucas Kaimaras
When I was teaching computer science
at Stanford University’s ‘Code in Place’ program,
I was in awe
at our class of ten students,
ranging from a hipster, a fashion designer from Tokyo,
a wholesome Hawaiian doctor who looked like a blend of McDreamy and McSteamy,
and a hardworking entrepreneur from Ghana,
who grew his own business and is scaling his business across Africa.
Everyone was there to learn Python,
the language we use to program artificial intelligence.
It was amazing to me because the students’ hard work and dedication
reflected humanity’s innate desire to master technology,
and for each of us to make a good living for our families
in a tech dominated future.
Now we’re on the cusp of a technology revolution.
By now, you’ve probably heard about Metaverse and Web3.
Metaverse is the next generation user interface of the Internet.
Instead of seeing the Internet on a screen,
you can put on your virtual reality headset,
and once you’re in,
your experience an entirely alternative digital universe
that’s immersive and makes you feel like you’re inside the Internet
rather than outside looking in.
Web3 is the next generation operating model of the Internet.
Instead of big companies owning your data
and running their algorithms on your data,
you can take back control and ownership.
Powered by blockchain, Web3 lets you fully own your data,
the content you create and the digital lives that you live.
If you feel like you've lost control of ownership and data in a current Internet,
here are three things that all of us can do together to take back control,
to collectively make sure that metaverse and web3 -our next generation internet-
stays “of the people, by the people, for the people”.
The first thing we have to do together is to democratize the tools of creation.
This is a replica of Johannes Gutenberg’s original printing press,
invented in the year 1450.
Now, it was one of the most revolutionary creation tools of all time.
Before the printing press, books were handmade.
They were copied by hand, word for word, picture by picture,
and only the privileged few could afford to buy a book.
The printing press empowered authors to create and distribute books
on a much more massive scale, and in the process,
this technology tool democratized knowledge.
Here are some modern equivalents of the Gutenberg printing press.
In 2006 Jack Dorsey, who co-founded Twitter,
published the first tweet ever.
This same first tweet was recently sold as an NFT for $2.9 million.
In 16 years, Twitter has empowered over 200 million people
to express their ideas and to be heard by a global audience,
all within originally 140 and now 280 characters at a time.
Launched in 2007 out of MIT,
Scratch is a visual programming language
that has empowered over 80 million learners to create computer programs,
including some really really sophisticated games.
It's friendly to everyone, including to kids as young as five years old,
even to my own two daughters who are eight and six.
Now we're seeing early signs of similar tools emerge for Web3 and Metaverse.
The apps that run Web3, are called Smart Contracts.
And Smart Contracts give us wonderful things
like NFTs and decentralized finance.
INCLUDE is a project aimed to democratize how people create for Web3.
Inspired by projects like Scratch,
INCLUDE leverages the power of drag-and-drop and visual programming
so that anyone, not just programmers, can create for Web3.
The second thing that we need to do together
is to keep things open and connected.
Metaverse and Web3 will only be of the people, by the people, for the people,
if it remains open and connected.
This is what the Internet looks like in 1998 versus in 2021.
You can see how much more interconnected and intertwined we are now
compared to then.
Here is the first Web page known to humankind,
created by the inventor of the Web and HTTP protocol, Tim Berners-Lee.
You can see how, even in day one of the Web,
Tim Berners-Lee had already conceived of this idea of links
that you can link to other people’s websites,
and other people’s websites can link back to your website,
so that the whole Web is a system where users can click to wherever they want,
and website creators can recommend whatever content they want to the audience
thus creating an open and connected ecosystem
where many many people and businesses can thrive.
We need something similar for the metaverse,
based on open technical standards, the way the web is.
We’ve done so much right with these open web standards
that instead of starting from scratch,
we should really unearth their wisdom, leverage, ubiquity,
and adapt them for the metaverse.
MetaHTTP is an open source initiative
that’s evolving current web standards for the metaverse.
The project’s looking at how to make teleportation in the metaverse
as easy as clicking on a link.
That means looking at a URL, a website link,
and extending that to a portal in a metaverse
where users can teleport freely across different virtual worlds
without being locked inside walled gardens.
It also means looking at protocols like HTTP
and extending them for the metaverse.
Lastly, but probably most importantly,
we want to invite you sincerely
to join our movement to utilize Web3 and Metaverse for good.
You see, underlying Metaverse and Web3 are blockchain technologies,
and blockchain is what gives you fantastic industry focused things
like NFTs and decentralized finance.
But you can even use blockchain for other fantastic things,
like for social good and for social causes.
Here’s an example:
Project Connect is something jointly created by UNICEF and ITU
to boost Internet connectivity for schools in need all around the world.
The project works.
I’m mapping real time connectivity of any participating school to the Internet,
and storing that information on a public blockchain.
This creates transparency for donors, on one hand,
and accountability for Internet service providers, on the other hand,
together ensuring that everyone is doing their job right,
so that more students, no matter where they are,
can have a better access to the Internet and a better education.
In closing, I want to ask you for your help
so that together we can build a better Metaverse and Web3.
There are three things I wish to ask for your help on:
Number one, help us to democratize the tools of creation.
Number two, help us to keep things open and connected.
And last but not least, as recap.
Help us by joining the movement.
Together we’ll ensure a Metaverse and Web3
that is TRULY of the people, by the people and for the people.
Thank you.