Web3 is a hot topic. While we all try to gauge the future of the Internet, tech billionaire Elon Musk has unearthed some pure gold from the past to put some context on the future. The Tesla boss shared a 1995 video of Bill Gates talking about the future of the Internet on David Letterman’s show. The clip shared by Musk is from This Week in Startups, a show hosted by angel investor Jason Calacanis. In the video, Bill Gates is answering Letterman’s question on the Internet. “Well, it [internet] has become a place where people are publishing information. So, everybody can have their own homepage, big companies are there with the latest information. It is wild what’s going on. It is the new big thing,” the Microsoft founder said.
The conversation then reaches a point where Gates and Letterman are discussing a baseball game being broadcast on a computer. Letterman jokingly says, “Does radio ring a bell?” and then when Gates says that it is different as you can watch it anytime you want, Letterman replies, “Do tape recorders ring a bell?”
The video clearly shows how people were sceptical about the “new big thing” at that time, the internet. Letterman adds, “It is easy to criticise something that you do not fully understand.”
Sharing the old video, Musk wrote, “Given the almost unimaginable nature of the present, what will the future be?”
Take a look:
Given the almost unimaginable nature of the present, what will the future be? pic.twitter.com/b2Yw0AXGVA— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 20, 2021
In the following tweet, Musk added “I am not suggesting web3 is real – it seems more of a marketing buzzword than reality now – just wondering what the future will be like in 10, 20, or 30 years. 2051 sounds crazy futuristic!”
I’m not suggesting web3 is real – seems more marketing buzzword than reality right now – just wondering what the future will be like in 10, 20 or 30 years. 2051 sounds crazy futuristic!— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 20, 2021
The Web3 that Musk mentioned is Web 3.0, which is believed to be the next version of the World Wide Web. Web 3.0, experts say, will be based on blockchain and will be machine-based and data-driven.
Musk’s video has racked up more than 40 lakh views so far, and the reactions are many.
A good way to predict the future is to build it— Lex Fridman (@lexfridman) December 20, 2021
It stuns me that all of this has happened in less than a lifetime. We went from no internet to this massive connectivity and opportunity in less than a lifetime. Imagine, what would the next 40 years can accomplish!
— Ankur Warikoo (@warikoo) December 20, 2021
honestly, i think i would love for more effective communication in the future onlineas an example, a meme does so much better of a job conveying nuance than words in a tweet
so neutral link could directly beam memes back and forth and solve human communication 🤣
— Shibetoshi Nakamoto (@BillyM2k) December 20, 2021
Internet: • In 1995, 0.5% of the world used the internet.
• In 2021, 60% of the world uses the internet. #Bitcoin:
• In 2021, 0.5% of the world uses #Bitcoin.
Will Bitcoin be able to outgrow the US dollar in 2047?
— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) December 20, 2021
Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey was among those who talked about Web 3.0 last week. While proponents of Web3 said users will ultimately own it, Dorsey disagreed. “You don’t own “web3.” The VCs and their LPs do. It will never escape their incentives. It’s ultimately a centralized entity with a different label. Know what you’re getting into…” he wrote.
You don’t own “web3.”The VCs and their LPs do. It will never escape their incentives. It’s ultimately a centralized entity with a different label.
Know what you’re getting into…
— jack⚡️ (@jack) December 21, 2021
Dorsey then got into a spat with Marc Andreessen, after he targeted the firm Andreessen Horowitz. Marc blocked Jack Dorsey on Twitter. Dorsey on the other hand unfollowed many proponents of Web 3.0.
Well, one thing is certain. We will hear a lot more banter on Web 3.
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