Philosophies of the Open Web

The Open Web aims to scale web3 to everyone. There are a set of mandates that helps guide creators of this new web paradigm such as NEAR.

Here are the five philosophies :

  1. Decentralization

    There is no single server responsible for running the blockchain. If one node, or computer, in the system goes down, the system stays intact. This protects from outages and helps prevent manipulation in the system.

  2. Hackability and Composability

    Any transaction on the blockchain is permanent and immutable, meaning it cannot be changed. This creates transparency in a world where information is often hidden from users.

    Anyone can see any transaction or smart contract being run from an organization or user on the blockchain.

  3. Open and Permissionless

    Web3 is open to all and does not require permission to use it. This removes the ability for a group of gatekeepers to say who can and who cannot use a service.

  4. User First and Sovereign

    Users own their data. The Open Web rejects the idea of large corporations reading their user's data to then use or sell it for their own personal gain.

    This encourages data interoperability, or the ability for data to be used seamlessly in different locations. For example, using one profile to access YouTube, Twitter, and Snapchat. Your data can carry over from one platform to another. This also removes the risk of one of the services shutting down and the user losing all of their information or progress.

  5. Open Markets and Passion Economy

    Give creators the ability to create a passion and ownership based economy. Creators can freely monetize their own content without relying on third parties, known for taking a large percentage of profits.

    Align incentives from organizations to users, encouraging users to be more actively involved in the project progress. This can look like giving early users and contributors the token of the company, whereas they profit as the project and token grows.

    This opens up the way to easier monetization strategies for open source projects, where the code for a program is public, and social/public goods.