Hi.
Recently I got a little bit curious about web 3.0, after noticing the idea seems to be a contractualisation and valuationist take on the web and indeed the internet.
ie All network actions seem to be thought of as Contracts with Values to be executed by blockchains and possibly IPFS (Inter planetary file system).
These seem, to me, very far from a future when the spontaneous need to exchange comes as a without one side using the other’s need for exchange for profit.
I thought that maybe activitypub kinda spaces might develop ways to circumvent - if not outright better - such web3.0 visions and efforts…
Is this the right kind of forum?
Found a short clip from 2017 regarding ideas in a similar kind of direction, but not much else: https://conf.tube/videos/watch/7d0aa9a1-d9fb-4dbd-9183-aec6cdf1ec35
stay safe!
I am not much of a techie, so apologies for possible misunderstandings that may follow this line ;)
It seems that blockchain oriented p2p - and the whole web3.0 push - has to do with employing so called contracts that push network switches on/off.
ie currently, my browser came to this site,. the server performed a contract with the browser based on “are you friendly?” yes, i am said the browser - i use such and such protocol. and the server was cool allowing access to this site. (put roughly)
If this was a blockchain, that “are you friendly” would have been more like: “give me a proof that i should let you in” the browser would then need to show a “proof” of work/stake/etc. Instead of a general “we use the same kind of protocol” the network becomes much more anonymous yet at the same time Personal. The vetting into content becomes a personal contract that can - and is - being vetted and priced constantly, without a need to use all sorts of forms. (ie at the background)
Yes, this description might be mistaken, however, please bare since the point is that in case Web3.0 has a noticeable Blockchain bias then perhaps relating that bias critically - can make something like activitypub offer a positive difference? ie Offer to do things blockchain can not and stuff that contemporary p2p network can or Does not?
Cheers! xx
There is a lot of complexity in web/internet technology, but the communication between a browser and a server refers to something else than what blockchains are typically used for. Browsers communicate via the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and the hypertext is your html page (text, images, links).
What makes blockchain special is its trustless consensus mechanism. In a global decentralized web of interconnected (p2p) applications, you want to make transactions with many other parties that you don’t know, and can’t trust. Blockchain solves this, by ensuring a transaction is only committed if it guaranteed is was not tampered with. In cryptocurrency for instance the consensus mechanism is used to solve the “double spend” problem. When I pay someone it takes time for the transaction to be verified, and without blockchain I might make another payment with the same money in the meantime.
Most blockchain technology - like Bitcoin - comes with a lot of downsides, like insane energy use, and incredibly low transaction speed. New blockchain projects try to solve this, but in many applications where blockchain is used, it is not adding much value. Most of the technology already existed before, except for the consensus mechanism, and are often a better choice.
ActivityPub is communication protocol where you sent meaningful messages over HTTP. Such as a ‘Like’ message. You can extend the protocol with your own objects and activities, such as ‘Product’ and ‘Buy’ and in that way build a great variety of applications on top of it.
For peer-to-peer use of ActivityPub we need some changes. HTTP is bound to domain names, and e.g. your phone doesn’t have its own domain. A different protocol below AP is needed, and research is underway to define this (e.g. in the DREAM project). Things get even more complex in P2P context, but eventually we will have a hybrid decentralized Fediverse (federated + p2p).