This made me wonder how I see the future of the web, and would fellow HNers agree with?

For me the web3 term was already coined years ago with the Semantic Web. Then completely distorted / replaced by reality: social networks. So what's this web3/crypto wave? Maybe we are already thinking about web4? Outside the web? Anyway, what is web1, web2, webX?

* web1 - Academic, hacker driven, early adopters

* web2 - Fully open to public, via blogs

* web3 - Semi-open, planet scale, mandatory social networks and apps built on personal data / advertising.

* web4 - More divide: blockchains, various reality layers.

It's clear we can't go forward with the `web` term. It's rather platforms than the web. Web1-2 went with the browser platform, web3 introduced the app/portable device platform, the next paradigms will introduce new platforms and devices.

I guess we should say goodbye to the web idea, a generally available, `free` platform for all, with non-mandatory participation.

We are already in the mandatory era, where we all carry a device and connect to a network, being exploited 24/7. Next, we will carry better devices (VR, AR) better exploiting us. If we say no to all devices, the the environment (IoT) will exploit us in a mandatory way.

I guess we can affirm the web, the ideal it represents, it's dead.

[0] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29727420

[1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncoiotldS-8&t=1s