Being born in the late 70’s enabled me to witness and partake in, the creation, usage and evolution of personal computing and the internet.
My first email address I still have and use to this day, (with several new accounts added along the way, business and personal) and back then, like sci-fi writers and dreamers did all over the world, I envisioned my own version of what future tech could look like in my lifetime and beyond.
Look back to the early 1900’s with me. What does it feel like to imagine the lives of the average person witnessing the technological advances between 1890 and 1918, along with regulatory bodies pushed by public and private institutions to limit the risk posed to them by the hazards of the time? The new tech was steam, internal combustion, electricity and telecommunications. The Wild West’s transition into industrialization! What a crazy-dangerous time to be alive.
That, is what I think people will feel like when they look back at the last 3 decades, from 2118. What version of the web will we have then? Version 24.0? Or will that be too linear a way to describe it?
I believe we are standing at the start of the transition into the next step.
The term has been used by TRON, and supporters alike, as a place they’ve jumped on a train too. A revolution in internet software, hardware and infrastructure that will hopefully lead to a more harmonious and utopic internet/human relationship and experience.
I thought I’d take a closer look at what such a train-ride might entail, and what it could mean for everyone in, and outside of China.
First of all, a quick look at what web 4.0 is. One of the simplest definitions for 4.0 I’ve read:
“Web 4.0 will be the read-write-execution-concurrency web.”
I should say that some very intelligent minds think we haven’t attained a full 3.0 yet, but that won’t stop elements of the current 3.0 status from jumping to the next level, in an incremental process.
Tron Labs is in the development stages of bringing blockchain to major categories of the internet, which is one step in the journey to make 4.0 a reality. Just like smart contracts and blockchain ledgers have made transacting digital assets more seamless and secure, they will also increase the speed and bandwidth of internet and data traffic online.
Web OS is a larger, long term goal of the Tron Labs team. What is Web OS? The intelligent web.
Tron’s not in it alone, but have become one of the major players in this new field. There will be many pieces that fit web 4.0 together. A quote comes to mind from Brad Garlinghouse recently that I liken to Tron’s position with other cogs in this developing machine:
“A lot of them go after different use cases, like the early days of the internet. Yahoo is not competing with Amazon. The internet needed to grow up. I want all businesses to rise. An important element of a mature industry is a maturation of all aspects of coverage…”
The Chinese Connection
One thing that remains to be seen is to what extent the Chinese government will include Tron in its bold plan for Greater China internet development and (according to some) domination.
Peiwo App, an audio content community app in China, (also founded by Justin Sun) received the certificate of China’s National High-tech Enterprise, which is issued by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Finance, and State Administration of Taxation. This kind of blessing is a great start for Sun and his team who, in China, now have one of the biggest and most experienced cryptography teams in a country that just tightened restrictions to foreign exchange and ICO access.
This has led some to say this as a threat to Tron’s goals in China, but I believe it gives them a distinct advantage. No competition from outside the “Great Firewall”, and a government certification giving them special tax status and possible funding for R&D.
When I said “bold plan”, I wasn’t exaggerating. China is aiming to lead the charge into its own version of Web 4.0.
China is planning on spending up to one trillion dollars on infrastructure projects in a bid to tie more than 65 countries and two thirds of the world to its economy, and Tron is poised to become a critical element in such an effort.
To answer the question posed in the title of this blog, can Tron achieve its web 4.0? I think Justin Sun understands it isn’t just Tron’s version. He knows, and is fitting the Tron Foundation into the waves of world and economic change that China is positioning itself to forge, while the US seems to be voluntarily stepping out of the scene in any leadership capacity. Can Tron do what they’re setting out to do?
You decide. As I’ve said in past posts: I’ve got my money on 
.
On a side note, TwentySumCrypto, a writer at Medium.com recently pointed out:
Dog just so happens to be the Chinese New Year Zodiac for 2018. Wouldn’t be hard to imagine every person in China wanting their own rare virtual “lucky” dog this year. Just speculating! Fidget spinners were a thing in 2017, virtual pets in 2018 doesn’t seem so irrational by comparison.
TwentySumCrypto was referring to “Tron Dogs”, a product of the partnership between Tron and Game.com where users pay with TRX to obtain a customizable crypto-doggie of sorts.
Happy Year of the Dog!
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