πInternet and Web3
Last updated
Last updated
State and nation are modern concepts traced back to the Peace of Westphalia. According to some theses from the 1980s of the last century, it is cultural proximity that has led to the birth of nations of people that create states.
Technology has enabled the creation of the conditions for a national consciousness. With the printing press and the possibility of creating newspapers, people have started to feel close regardless of their physical proximity. The nation is an imaginative cultural product. It is an imagined community because the size requires an imagination since people cannot all see or meet each other (Anderson).
With the Internet, which is now used by over 60% of the global population, new forms of sharing capabilities have emerged and matured. The Internet has allowed the birth of new types of communities; it has allowed people to share values independently of territories. There are new forms of vernacular languages, such as memes.
With Web3, people can own and trade assets across national borders and without the need for a state to protect the relationship.
This is what could be described as a Copernican Revolution of the dynamic between the digital and physical worlds. The digital world is becoming the main realm where our consciousness is formed, relationships are built, culture is made, and scarce resources are managed. Minting tokens online was only the first step.