The Philosophical Roots of Web3: From Personal Computers to Global Supercomputers

The core idea of Web3 can be traced back to the birth of personal computers in the 1960s. Its essence is to return technological dominance to individuals, allowing users to manage their accounts and assets independently, interact with others without the need for trust, and freely participate in network governance. This idea resonates strongly with the counterculture movement from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, and has since been integrated into the open-source movement and the spirit of the internet.

Steve Jobs is one of the important representatives of this concept. During his teenage years, Whole Earth Catalog magazine was very popular among young people. The magazine, with the slogan "Access to Tools," aimed to introduce various tools that could help individuals think independently and take control of their destinies. This magazine had a profound impact on Jobs, and he later quoted one of its classic phrases, "Stay hungry, stay foolish," in a speech at Stanford University.

Under this spirit, Jobs participated in early hacker gatherings and co-founded Apple Inc. with Wozniak. The slogan of their first product, Apple I, reflected the idea of emphasizing individual power and advocating for technological freedom. The later-released Macintosh completely changed the public's perception of computers, with Jobs positioning Apple as the "freedom spark" in the personal computing field.

In the 1980s, open source technology began to take root, and the "free software movement" emerged. Richard Stallman and others proposed that software should grant users the most fundamental freedoms and control. At the same time, hacker culture gradually formed a unique ideological system known as "hacker ethics." These ideas emphasize that everyone should have the right to access computers, information should be free, there should be no blind obedience to authority, and decentralization should be advocated.

After the widespread adoption of the Internet in the 1990s, the government's excessive regulation of the network sparked new reflections. The Electronic Frontier Foundation was established to defend freedom of speech and user rights in the digital age. Meanwhile, the Cypherpunk movement emerged, emphasizing the importance of digital privacy in an open society. These ideas drove the development of cryptography, ultimately leading to the birth of Bitcoin.

In 2013, Vitalik Buterin proposed the idea of expanding blockchain technology into a general computing platform, which became the prototype of Ethereum. In the early stages of the project, Gavin Wood joined and helped turn theory into practice. It was during this process that Wood systematically introduced the concept of "Web3", envisioning a new type of social infrastructure centered around individuals, characterized by decentralization and a lack of intermediaries.

From personal computers to Web3, this evolution reflects a consistent spirit of freedom. If the personal computer revolution led by Jobs was about creating hardware terminals that are "accessible to everyone," then the Web3 philosophy promoted by Wood and others is about building a "programmable by everyone" global Supercomputer.

The realization of this vision requires crossing the boundaries of technology, systems, and culture. Although the specific form of the future is still difficult to predict, it is certain that there will always be a group of people working to build a truly people-centered digital world that empowers individuals with maximum freedom and creativity.