How to talk to normies about Web3

I had dinner with some normies last week.

What’s a “normie,” you might ask?

I had to think about how to define this. So I searched for some help online.

Urban dictionary had a good summary: “A person gravitating to social standards, accepted practices, and fads of their own time and geographic grouping without broader cultural perspectives from which they draw.”

So, your average person.

Anyway, we got onto the discussion of Web3.

“What is Web3?” they asked.

I took a patient sip of my gin and tonic and cleared my throat, “I’m glad you asked.”

“Web3 is the next evolution of the Internet and is a movement as much as a technology. It’s a movement of internet communities that is made possible through blockchain technology and decentralization.”

Blank stares.

Ok let’s back up.

“Right. So it’s the next stage of the internet. We get that. But I have no idea what blockchain is and what does decentralization have to do with it.”

And it struck me how much work we have to do.

To bring in the masses, or the normies.

I’m sure this has played out time and time again throughout history.

Mesopotamia around 3,500 B.C. Some dude has just invented the wheel and all his friends just look at him perplexed.

Germany 1440s: Johannes Gutenberg has become a social pariah as he wont stop talking about this silly machine he is working on that will “change human communication.” Yawn.

USA Early 1900s: Henry Ford spends most of his social outings trying to convince people why cars will one day be used instead of horses. Perhaps he’s been drinking a bit too much.

1990s: All these nerds talking about this network of information called the Internet. It probably won’t last.

This conversation stuck in my mind. I kept thinking about it long after dinner.

I woke up early the next morning thinking about ways to better explain Web3.

I used to sleep till the early afternoon and wander to a leisurely brunch after a boozy Friday night dinner.

Now I wake up early, pondering the complexities of how to simplify new technology.

Oh how times have changed.

So how can we explain it?

I learned a few things from this dinner.

Don’t use the words “blockchain” and “decentralization.”

That shit doesn’t fly.

It would be like talking about Transmission Control Internet Protocol (TCIP) when describing the Internet. No one wants to hear about that.

Here is what I would change about my definition

Web3 -> The next phase of the internet

Blockchain -> new computers that make this new internet possible. These computers can be accessed by anyone and can make commitments without a trusted third party. This makes it hard for people to conceal bad things.

Decentralization -> Instead of one computer/company controlling everything (Facebook, Twitter, Google) many users/computers secure the network which makes it more democratic.

These are good building blocks for explaining Web3.

“Web3 is the next version of the internet which is made possible by new computers and a new way of computing that makes the internet and money more democratic.”

But the inevitable next question is: why should I care?

To put it simply: think about how much your current life revolves around the Internet. Over the next decade your life, and every aspect of it, will be even more immersed in the internet. That Internet will be some form of Web3.

If you want to thrive, you’ll need to embrace it.

Think about how the Internet has changed communication:

• People no longer go out to meet a partner, they just swipe their phone on a dating app.

• You most likely stare at a screen for an unhealthy amount of time each day, instead of interacting with another person in real life.

• You no longer need to ever leave your home because of e-commerce.

• Before ever meeting a person you have an entire catalog of information about them on social media.

I’m not saying these are good or bad things. I’m trying to show how quickly things have changed.

It’s interesting that if you look back over the last 50 years or so, physical things haven’t changed that much.

Cars don’t look that different compared to the 70’s. Maybe the engines have become more efficient. But they haven’t changed significantly.

Refrigerators look pretty similar.

Houses are not that different.

So what’s changed?

Computers and the digital world. And that’s going to continue.

In fact, it’s speeding up.

Don’t get left behind.