melvincarvalho on Nostr: The Web is a very clever invention. It has in some ways a bad name, because of how it ...
The Web is a very clever invention. It has in some ways a bad name, because of how it is used. Web 2.0 VCs tied their platforms to domain names and invaded privacy. But the web doesnt have to be used that way. Its inventor wanted it to be used on a more distributed way, where everyone owns their own piece of the web. Nostr is an example of a 100% web protocol (most dont realize its a web protocol, built on web sockets and http) that can be used in a more distributed way. The insight here is that the web can be used in both centralized ways and decentralized ways.
Another example of why the web is clever is that its inventor wanted it to be a data system as well has text system. But he knew to make it popular he couldnt change the orginal browser syntax (SGML) too much so made HTML. Browsers said, yes we know SGML so HTML just adds a few other things like hyperlinks. And that's how he took off. However the plan has always been to make a browser for both humans and for data. We are still working on this second part, and it is another way the web can be used that people didnt realize was there. And can unlock a lot of innovation.
Another example of why the web is clever is that its inventor wanted it to be a data system as well has text system. But he knew to make it popular he couldnt change the orginal browser syntax (SGML) too much so made HTML. Browsers said, yes we know SGML so HTML just adds a few other things like hyperlinks. And that's how he took off. However the plan has always been to make a browser for both humans and for data. We are still working on this second part, and it is another way the web can be used that people didnt realize was there. And can unlock a lot of innovation.