Introduction to Web3PEEPLES
How can you start learning about Web3?
We can learn about the future or fear the future. But the future is always on its way. I come from a non-technical background, having studied Economics in my undergraduate.
The first time I heard about Bitcoin was well over a decade ago. But in these past couple of years, the infrastructures and new technologies surrounding it have more prominently entered my radar.
I find myself more and more interested in the happenings of this Web 3.0 space. After many abstract conversations with friends about the likelihood of mainstream cryptocurrency adoption, what decentralization stands for and how that could possibly play out in society, a curiosity planted.
And the more I dig, the more there is to find.
Are you reading this as a non-engineer who is intrigued by Web3?
95% of my opinions are curated and researched without any background in tech.
I like to learn, ask questions, and constantly reconstruct my understanding of the world. Being a citizen of these modern times, where change is rapid, requires most of us to do so.
I value optimization (this may or may not be influenced by years of studying Economic theory). I am super interested in how our current internet and technology landscape overlaps and creates the soil for Web3.
Maybe, like me, you value multi-faceted opinions and backgrounds. You enjoy learning about society and development through the lens of deep thinkers, economists, writers, artists, and revolutionaries who saw deeply into the future.
As we move towards the more technologically advanced infrastructure and internet society that is Web3, I believe it’s important for people of all interests and studies to grasp the technology behind the system. In Web3, as we will explore in future articles, your ability to code and decipher code allows you to understand more clearly, and contribute to its development.
It’s definitely an intimidating and vast subject to broach,
Even as the technology of Web3 is still in its early days, doing a few searches on Google into some of the technology might leave you feeling intimdated or make you reconsider not taking that coding bootcamp summer of 2015.
I believe we are still early in the space.
I hope to candidly share my experiences as I learn more about the Web3, in a way that might require you to be open-minded, but not much equipped with much beyond that.
What is WEB3PEEPLES?
Hurrah! WEB3PEEPLES is a project to document the learning journey of a non-technical person’s venture into the complicated and dynamic space of Web3. You might be reading this with some background in software engineering or a technical understanding of the building blocks of Web2.0. Or not! (You are in the perfect place).
I hope to provide some digestible knowledge and research from a non-technical perspective, for someone who has zero coding literacy, like me, to encourage your learning journey of the new Web3 internet era.
You might be learning to potentially transition into a Web3 career role, to impress your big-brain friends at the next happy hour, or to satisfy your inherent curiosity about the deeper aspects and constructs of society and governance. These are all great reasons to learn more about Web3.
Continuous learning builds confidence and empowerment. Hopefully, we can foster a like-minded community here.
Will someone with a technical background have the same Web3 learning curve as someone with a non-technical background?
Maybe, maybe not. I certainly have more questions than I have answers. I also do not have a technical background, so I utterly lack that first-hand perspective.
From my current understanding of Web3- evaluating the knowledge gaps and areas that I have difficulty grasping- I’m sure that having certain aspects of technical ability (for example, fluency in Javascript or grasp of commonly used coding languages) provides a few things.
Having the right technical backgroun will definitely give you the ability to understand:
How Web3.0 is built
How to evaluate the technological infrastructure supporting popular project
Even how to quickly jump into contributing and building out Web3.0 projects of your own!
If you try to learn about Web3.0 from resources created by Web3.0 coding wizards (created to help engineers quickly transition to Web3.0, and help so-called wizards advance their coding projects) you might quickly feel discouraged by all the tech jargon.
But that doesn’t mean you’re not cut out for this new layer of the Internet. It just means you stumbled into a resource that isn’t the most helpful pick for you right now, but one day might be.
Did you misspell “people”?
Nope! As someone loves art history, the crazy happenings in the NFT art world have had my attention since day one. Many people define “day one” as the day a somewhat previously unknown artist called Beeple sold his digital piece “Everydays: the first 500 days” to Christie’s for a staggering $69 million.
“Everydays” was a series Beeple made documenting his daily developments in digital art, (literally a collage of 500 days of consecutive artwork). I thought it would be fitting to do a spin-off of his name, as a reminder that no achievement is ever too big to be broken down into smaller, bite-sized pieces.
That’s what WEB3PEEPLES hopes to deliver to my fellow passionate and curious non-techies out there.
If you’re a techie reading this, even better! Please correct any mistakes I might make in my articles moving forward if I incorrectly describe some aspect of Web3 in my writing.
How do I begin learning about Web3?
Most of floating Web3 headlines in 2022 come from media articles or trending Twitter topics about NFTs selling for millions or the influential celebrity social clubs formed around them. You might have heard that Facebook is planning to invest heavily in its Metaverse. You might have heard of multiple 19-year-old overnight cryptocurrency millionaires who made a fortune buying Bitcoin in 2010. These are fascinating topics…the most fascinating being that they’re not just oversensationlized media headlines, but that the stories are entirely real.
That’s what happens when people either believe in a vision, or get lucky. (Perhaps a bit of both?)
Upon hearing these awe-inspiring, or perhaps dread-inducing headlines, you might find yourself digging a little further into Web3.
You realize there are many layers upon layers. That might cause you to close the browser tab in frustration or impatience, but hopefully, you’ll stick around to learn a little more.
Many people believe Web3.0 is here to stay. Maybe it’s valuable to learn about what gotten so many investors, new tech leaders, and celebrities (all power-holding people) excited. (Why are so many of them changing their profile pics to monkeys?)
Where do I start learning about Web3?
The best places to begin learning Web3 are the parts that interest you the most.
Web3 can generally be broken down into a few distinct yet often overlapping categories, such as:
the blockchain, the metaverse, DeFi (decentralized finance), NFTs, cryptocurrency, DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations), and dApps (decentralized applications).
For someone with a limited technical background, it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with the more intuitive aspects of Web3 before diving deeper into the blockchain and the different coding modules that support the functionality.
How did you first hear about Web3?
What terms are you currently the most familiar with?
Start there!
As someone who loves artwork, you might find yourself drawn to the new market dynamics that NFTs are driving.
As an investor in the stock market, you might be fascinated by the potential investment upsides of cryptocurrency. (Is Shiba Inu a scam? Or will it make me a millionaire? Questions I’ve definitely had.)
As a gamer, you might be excited about the aspect of gaming in virtual 3D worlds.
Another perspective to guide your learning and exploration of Web3 for someone with a non-technical background would be by seeking out the opposing opinions various thought leaders have on the space.
You can begin forming your own opinion and uncovering your areas of curiosity by seeing if you agree with various experts’ views of Web3, and the validity of different innovations developing in those spaces.
Can anyone learn about and be involved in Web3? It seems complicated.
Explore Web3.0 with an open mind!
Thanks to my no-code background, I often find myself puzzled by the technological jargon and implicit layer of informational roadblocks I encounter as I try to piece together a more coherent understanding of Web3.0 implications.
Approach the learning with an open mind, and you will find yourself digging deeper.
Learning takes off when it is driven by your interest and curiosity.
As you learn about one aspect of Web3, it will naturally lead you to other uncover other aspects.
WEB3PEEPLES is gaining new knowledge and perspective on Web3, so make sure you subscribe to my newsletter for bite-sized, monthly breakdowns of knowledge. (You already know they’re going to be awesome.)
Now, in the comments below, let’s get to know each other a little more!
What aspects of Web3.0 are you most curious about?
What is your background, and where do your interests lie?
