About 100 years ago (that's a lie, I'm not THAT old!), one of the takeaway lessons from college psychology classes was that there were certain ways in which I was not "typical."

Most significantly of these, the fact that I seemed relatively unswayed by peer pressure... perhaps the result of having had a singularly solitary childhood in which "getting along, in order to fit in and be cool" was not even a concept I was aware of. So when faced with a situation where a roomful of people were "rigged" to forcefully agree that 3 x 3 = 12, I stuck to knowing that 3 x 3 = 9, even in the face of disagreement and scorn.

It's a characteristic — when combined with 40 years of studying human and industrial psychology and behavior — that typically lands me with the role of playing "Devil's Advocate" in the face of a lot of situations and ideas... including those that seem to be so idealistic that they have lost contact with tangible reality, and instead dwell in the fuzzy pink twilight zone I call "wishful dream reality."

The world needs idealists and idealism!

Without them, we likely wouldn't move forward very much, and new "untested" ideas would never come to light because skeptics like me would stuff them back into the bag, in short order.

But the world needs skeptics, as well!

Without skeptics to point at the gaping holes in grand and ambitious new schemes, they would likely crash and burn, absent the benefit of rethinking, readjusting, redesigning and strengthening those gaps for survival in the "real world."

Consider the Internet, for example. It has undoubtedly succeeded beyond the wildest dreams of Messrs. Kahn and Cerf (originators of TCP/IP) and yet the idea of the Internet as a "global free library and network exchange" of information is long gone and buried because skeptics came along and declared "Yeah, nice idea, but this ain't going nowhere without commercialization and money."

Because idealism doesn't exist in a magical vaccuum where it's exempt from the vagaries, irrationality and greed of human nature.

Which brings me to my latest topic of skepticism: That fascinating world of Web 3.0.

People seem to love to throw that term around — often without having much of a clue as to what it really means — and operate in a world where it seems like it is the answer to everything, from communication to commerce to unprecedented prosperity.

Web 3 "evangelists" tend to shoot the messenger when skeptics ask questions, generally attributing questions and criticism to a place of "clearly you just don't UNDERSTAND Web 3.0."

Much like I didn't "understand" Crypto 10 years ago, when I predicted it was more likely to become a cesspool of greed and sketchy behavior than an actual alternative monetary system.

But getting back to Web 3, it's a nice idea, but what are the chances it will actually happen, given the ways of human nature, greed and the like?

We've already seen the Cryptosphere shift considerably from its original ideals of serving as an alternative monetary system and "banking the unbanked" to this strange circus of get-rich-quick schemes (memecoins and many NFTs) and people obsessing over "wen Lambo?"

Now, I'm not suggesting that the core ideas of Web 3, like decentralization and digital ownership and blockchain technology aren't going to change the world and likely for the better... but whether you like it or not, Web 3 isn't going to change human nature, and no matter how much we might be promised a "New Era of Prosperity," Web 3 will likely do little more than provide a revised framework within which all our human foibles will continue to do their thing.

And maybe that is simply how things are, and maybe that's how things are supposed to be.

And perhaps that's where some of my dis-ease sets in: It makes me a little nervous that so many people are pitching Web 3 as something it's not. Some variation the Pareto Principle will continue to prevail in the world. Many "conventional" undesirable systems will continue to prevail, within a different ruleset. Cheaters and scammers will continue their ways, using new "cheat codes."

That is no fault of the technology or the ideals of Web 3, the reality lies squarely at the feet of human nature. The technology is great... the problem is human beings!

I say "yay" for developing exciting new technologies and ways of doing things! But let's not pull too much wool over our eyes in our enthusiasm... there's also a reality at work, here!

=^..=

Curator Cat, May 29th, 2024