Web3 represented by blockchain may fail, let me tell you why

Editor's note: Blockchain technology is currently difficult to popularize on a large scale. First, the storage and computing power of consumer devices still cannot meet the demand; second, the blockchain app experience is very bad, scaring off many users; third, the blocks are separate and cannot be effectively connected. This article is from compilation.

Technological innovation is wonderful, but things are not that simple.

Although the first washing machine brought convenience, it was not user-friendly and user-friendly.

When the first gas stoves appeared, cooking efficiency improved, but it also brought fire hazards. From the first day of its birth to the small-scale popularization, the gas stove took nearly 30 years.

Look at the Ford Model T again. It had no seat belts, a poor chassis, unreliable brakes... As the first mass-produced car, it was truly a technological marvel. While Ford has benefited the public, many can't help but ask: Does the car breed more problems than it solves?

It is often said that two things are certain in our life, one is death, and the other is taxes. But I want to tell tech innovators one thing is for sure: any emerging technology is not fully mature when it comes to market.

Because of this, in the face of new vertical network technologies such as blockchain, cryptocurrency, DeFi, and dApps, I would like to share my views and point out some inherent flaws for your reference:

Existing consumer hardware cannot support mass adoption of blockchain technology

When people preach blockchain technology, they always like to talk about "decentralization", saying it is one of the biggest advantages of blockchain technology.

What is decentralization? In short, through various software and computer codes, we can accomplish some activities in the traditional online world that could not be accomplished without external authority.

Remittances are a good example. To remit money overseas, we can now choose between bank and wire transfer. We need an intermediary to complete the transaction. It takes 3-5 working days for the remittance to arrive, and there is a handling fee.

Digital currency is a good alternative. It does not require handling fees and can be credited instantly.

So are there any downsides to this "trustless/pure code" solution?

The transaction record of the blockchain cannot be modified. For example, Bitcoin, its underlying structure is the blockchain. Every bitcoin paid or received has a transaction record, and the record is permanent. But infinitely persistent copies of transactions must rely on devices, which are devices that exist for everyone in the Bitcoin network.

Bitcoin transactions are stored in blocks, and the size of each block is about 1MB. Currently, there are about 700,000 blocks in the Bitcoin network.

If there are only a few million blocks, and each block occupies a little less space than digital photos, it is certainly not difficult to solve the storage problem. But what if we completely transition to a blockchain-based computing architecture in the future?

There may be dozens of apps installed on each smartphone. What if the underlying layer of these apps is blockchain?

Will blockchain-based WhatsApp force us to store all conversation records to my physical device?

Will a blockchain version of YouTube force me to store all the 4K high-capacity videos I upload, watch, and share to my physical device?

If the computing model of blockchain technology is not fundamentally adjusted, with the continuous innovation of blockchain, the problem of insufficient storage and insufficient processing power of existing consumer hardware will appear sooner or later.

The interactive experience of blockchain applications is still bad for the average user

When you turn on your computer or smartphone and make up your mind to open an account, you will find that the account opening experience is not good.

You may be looking for and uploading certain documents and personal data that are often not at hand. Then you click on the email, and the bank tells you to start over. In desperation, you can only surrender: "What is the new password?"

Believe it or not, this "safe" and "frictionless" experience has been built over the years in constant user testing, and its ultimate goal is to allow ordinary users to do what they want in the app in the easiest and most efficient way possible matter.

Many people are familiar with the bank account opening process, but there are still many people who are confused. Because of this, many people still go to bank branches to open an account.

One day you might go out of your way to tell your grandma that a cryptocurrency wallet needs to have a random 12-word recovery phrase before you can continue, not only that, but if you want to use a different account in the wallet, you also need an algorithmically encrypted version of the phrase, Both passwords are securely stored somewhere offline and cannot be lost or stolen.

If grandma wants to send or receive cryptocurrency, or wants to enter the blockchain online app, she must have a 256-bit public key, and the password is either in the original form or a QR code, and grandma's device must also support interoperability with the dApp. Operational crypto wallet.

Holy crap, it's so complicated!

What if I run into trouble? Honestly there are not many answers.

If you forget your online bank account password, you can generate another one. If a hacker steals your passwords and steals money from your online accounts, you're still protected because U.S. banks generally automatically insure your funds up to a certain amount.

If the above-mentioned problems occur in the cryptocurrency account, the user has no choice but to face and bear the loss.

Because of this, I believe that Web3 and blockchain technologies are unlikely to be widespread on a large scale until some key problem-solving mechanisms are agreed and established.

A sound financial ecosystem should not only protect users from perpetrators, but also protect users from their own wrongdoing.

No solution has been found to this problem so far.

Blockchain App is equivalent to the Tower of Babel of the Internet

Briefly tell the story of the Tower of Babel!

The Babylonians wanted to build a very high tower, which could lead to heaven, so the Tower of Babel is also called the Tower of Babel. God does not like the grand plan of mankind. In order to make trouble, God made mankind speak different languages, so that they cannot reach cooperation on the construction of the tower.

Eventually the tower collapsed, and the world had a variety of languages.

What does the story of the Tower of Babel have to do with blockchain?

There are many, many blocks running now, and just like the workers building the Tower of Babel, there is no meaningful communication between blocks.

Many cryptocurrency and blockchain applications are built according to methods and code architectures that only run in their own virtual environment.

From a purely practical point of view, such an approach is undoubtedly destroying the value created by the traditional Internet.