Sam Taggart
🔗Part I: A Natural Evolution
The story of the Internet is one of ongoing evolution.
It began in the 1960s and 70s with a decentralized dream. Researchers and early pioneers built networks where computers communicated directly – peer-to-peer. There were no gatekeepers, no central authorities. Just nodes of people and their computers, freely exchanging data. This was the foundation for what we now call the Internet.
But as the Internet grew in the 90s, things started to change. The scrappy network of computers connected in an ad hoc manner started becoming an economic arena. Companies built platforms, services, and hubs. Massive infrastructure emerged to support this growth — hyperscale data centers, global fiber-optic networks, and powerful servers. The world logged on, and the web became commercialized.
This was Web 1.0 – static pages and basic information sharing. Then came Web 2.0 – the age of social media, cloud computing, and user-generated content, which makes up the vast majority of our shared digital lives. Connection became easier, but power was consolidated. Big platforms have taken ownership of our data and control our experiences.
In response, a new idea emerged – Web 3.0. Decentralized technologies like blockchain aimed to give control back to users. But Web3 is still finding its way, grappling with scalability, accessibility, and adoption.
And now, with the introduction of AI, we stand at the dawn of Web 4.0, the next evolution of the Internet. Web 4.0 is an agent-centric model, also sometimes referred to as the symbiotic web. In Web 4.0, we’ll interact both with humans and with virtual AI agents, our digital counterparts. These agents will be able to help with everything, from organizing our days to navigating our online presence. But here’s the catch – if we stay on the current path, these agents and the powerful intelligence systems behind them won’t belong to us. They’ll be owned – just like our data is today – by someone else. Web 4.0 will be no different than what we’ve had in the past.
This isn’t just about data anymore, it’s about intelligence itself. It’s about the future of our species and the planet. The question is: will we seize the opportunity to create something new – a decentralized network of augmented, collective intelligence.
This vision is what we call Web4.
🔗Part II: Our Web4 Vision
Web4. Where humans and AI collaborate to develop a new paradigm aimed at advancing planetary well-being. To our knowledge, we are the world’s first project approaching a fully functional Web4 infrastructure. But what does a Web4 infrastructure look like?
A Web4 infrastructure is built on three essential layers: personal, infrastructure, and physical.
At the heart of Web4 is the individual – you. The personal level involves an AI assistant, your digital counterpart, which manages your digital life and is owned fully by you. An identity layer ensures reputation and authenticity of information, an intelligence layer brings decentralized personal AI systems for smarter collaboration and decision-making. And a transaction layer integrates seamlessly with Web3 systems and beyond for secure and efficient transactions.
Next is the infrastructure layer, the backbone of Web4. This layer re-imagines how the Internet works. The network layer delivers private, scalable communication. The data layer revolutionizes how we store, share, and control data. Serverless compute resources allow applications to run closer to users and their data, improving speed and performance. And the cloud layer bridges today’s Web2 systems with a Web4 future, ensuring everything works together.
Finally, the physical layer brings Web4 into the real world. Routers act as gateways between the old web and the new, creating secure, next-generation communication channels. Nodes power the ecosystem by delivering AI, data, and compute capabilities. Phones become more than just a device, they are your portal into Web4, and capable of building meshed networks for better connectivity. And any modern desktop running Linux, Windows, or MacOS integrates seamlessly into this new ecosystem.
This vision may seem bold, but at ThreeFold, we are well on our way to making it a reality. Over the past decade, we have tackled complex challenges in areas such as data storage, secure overlay networking, and autonomous cloud security. A working proof of concept infrastructure grid is alive today thanks to the ThreeFold developers and a global community.
Today, we are pleased to announce the next step in the roadmap to Web4: Web4 Node, Web4 Phone, and Web4 Router.
🔗Part III: The Journey Begins
Today, we are pleased to announce the next step in the roadmap to Web4: V4 3Node, 3Phone equipped with 3Bot technology, and 3Router.
3Nodes are a familiar concept in the ThreeFold ecosystem, now also entering their fourth generation. Nodes provide capacity to the network, and in exchange generate rewards. Today, in collaboration with ThreeFold community vendors HostServiceNL in Europe and DuckFarmData in North America, we are announcing three different models of the V4 3Node. You can find more info and how to place orders here.
3Phones are a portal into the Web4 world. We are pleased to share that we will be offering several models of 3Phones into the market based on the Volla Phone platform. 3Phones will be equipped with your own decentralized AI agent called 3Bot. You can pre-order a 3Phone here.
And then there are 3Routers. Routers ensure that Web4 devices (phones and desktops running Mycelium) can communicate with one another – peer-to-peer, private, and secure. 3Routers will be available next year, and you can express your interest here.
Now, we need more than technology – we need pioneers, thinkers, and creators to help expand the Web4 ecosystem. Whether you contribute as a developer, a node operator, or via any other role, your participation is crucial. We need to bring millions of nodes, routers, and phones into the ecosystem. This is the next step in our journey.
The future of the Internet is being written today, and Web4 is the next chapter – a chapter where control, collaboration, and innovation belong to everyone. But this isn’t just our journey – it’s yours too. Together, we can build a smarter, more equitable digital world, where AI and humans work side by side to solve our greatest challenges.
Will you join us in realizing this vision?
Today we make these announcements to our incredible community, so you can provide your feedback and be amongst the first to register. In the coming weeks, after the new year, we will begin to spread this vision further. And this is only the beginning of our Web4 journey. Every three months, on 03.03, 06.06, 09.09, and 12.12 of next year we will continue to unveil major aspects of the Web4 vision. Of course there will be plenty of discussion and updates as we go, as well. Stay tuned.
