Is Web3 still dependent on Amazon?
Web3 is a phrase coined to define a new era of the internet where value is as free as information, hence the evolution from Web2 (liberty of information) to Web3 (liberty of value).
The Web3 internet consists of independent computers executing code that communicate to one another, to eventually come to a consensus about some data set. The phrase blockchain is used to define a data set where every new piece of data updated contains a reference to a previously updated piece of data, effectively creating a chain of datasets (aka blocks). Each computer comes to a consensus about this chain, such that if there is a computer that has an incorrect chain of datasets, the rest of the network can punish said the operator of the computer.
Through consensus comes value. But how? Well if you consider that our reality is but the sum of our agreeance with one another… and that the value of our paper cash is simply all of us agreeing that it equals what we say it equals, computers that are all communicating to each other about the value of a token are effectively doing the same thing we do on a day to day basis — that is coming to a consensus about the reality of our environment. In the case of computation, it is coming to a consensus about the value of a virtual token (aka a record in a publicly shared database that no one can tamper with without being punished).
So, we have this totally new infrastructure for financial interaction, but some purport this infrastructure to be an answer to the conglomerate amalgamation of our modern internet.
How does it all still depend so heavily on Amazon?
If you’re reading this, you’re aware of AWS. That is Amazon Web Services, and if you’re an engineer, you’re aware of just how awesome AWS can be, and if you’ve used AWS lambda, you probably have never stopped using it (unless you’re an EC2 masochist).
Nonethless, the world’s computation is so heavily reliant on AWS simply because of how simple and cost-effective Amazon has made it to rent computation. This means that despite the ability for Web3 technology to liberate us from our technical overlords, we choose to subside because of how simple it makes operating Web3 in the first place.
As an engineer at Usher developing decentralised technologies, any nodes or infrastructure we require are sourced from Amazon because it just works.
The take-away from this odd note is that the world doesn’t select it’s infrastructure as our decisions on developing the future of the world are not binary. This same concept applies to the green energy revolution and it’s criticism of still leveraging fossil fuels to produce the technology required to produce green energy. The road is paved through strategy and infrastructure eventually becomes a symbiosis until we reach a fork where humans can decide to steer toward one of two (or more) outcomes.
I didn’t mean to get philosophical, but the moral of the story is that Web3 is reliant on AWS and other cloud providers and will continue to be until independent operators become cheaper and more reliable, or when owning a server in the home becomes normal — which doesn’t seem likely.
Ok… so what does Web3 do?
Web3 may not liberate us from traditional internet infrastructure, it may even be a more cumbersome and uninsured but liberating alternative to traditional fiat currency, but what Web3 fundamentally does do, is API everything.
A programmable Blockchain is typically comprised of small programs that run deterministic code to update the Blockchain’s state. It’s like a Postgres DB we can all share access to, but no one can hack — ideally
What this means is that anything developed on a public Blockchain can be read, and written to by another program.
This creates a computation environment that is analogous to a cross-over episode in your favourite TV Show.
A scenario of this working: Gaming companies integrating their in-game items with Blockchains can create allow users to use the same item in both games.
To conclude
Cool technology and devoted humans beget more cool technology and devoted humans, whether that technology enables internet money, or enables servers to be rented as quick as you can call an Uber.
It doesn’t necessarily matter that the entire crypto-economy hinges on AWS… because the majority of the internet does too.
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