What is Polkadot's real relevance to the world?

In 2014, Dr. Gavin Wood, founder of the Web3 Foundation, introduced the term "Web 3.0" to describe a decentralized, trustless and serverless Internet in which users control their own data, identity and destiny. He introduced this new vision because he believed that the existing Internet infrastructure (i.e., Web 2.0) encouraged and facilitated the consolidation of power by a dominant group of commercial organizations, many of which were instrumental in building such infrastructure. In Dr. Wood's view, the Web 2.0 Internet has failed to meet basic human expectations of privacy and authenticity, not accidentally but intentionally. Many, if not most, of those well-known organizations that are central to the average person's Web 2.0 experience rely on advertising as the only way to make money. In addition, closely tied to advertising, robust online tracking and data mining can hide the truth. Web 2.0 is not just a public service, but a business. A customer seeking an online experience may unwittingly become a product, potentially without even realizing they are being watched and influenced.

The official mission of the Web3 Foundation envisioned a network that would eliminate the human conflict of interest that exists between creators and consumers of online content and applications. The goal of Web 3.0 was to create a new Internet infrastructure that could provide citizens with a meaningful alternative to Web 2.0 - an Internet that would continue to provide the features and benefits they expected from the Web 2.0 world, but in a more secure, decentralized format with privacy protection. Ideally, Web 3.0 would allow individuals, not just a group of powerful advertising-driven commercial entities, to control their personal data, including home addresses, cell phone numbers, medical histories, and many other forms of personal identifiable information.

One way to create such a decentralized Internet was to use blockchain technology with Polkadot as the optimal design implementation. Polkadot's vision was to provide a base layer of vertical, use case independent, coordinating software that would ultimately help create a viable alternative to Web 2.0 for citizens. Just as HTTP provides the rails for communication in Web 2.0, once established, Polkadot could provide blockchain interoperability and cross-blockchain communications in Web 3.0. However, rather than invoking the well-known "blockchain trilemma," the Polkadot development team has raised the bar higher, making it clear that decentralization and security are not mandatory in the quest for scalability.

The goal was always high because the goal mattered . Interoperability and cross-network messaging are not marketing gimmicks. They are critical to achieving Web 3.0.

Over the past few years, the blockchain space has evolved into a diverse ecosystem with many independently valued communities with different cultures and goals. However, individual elements of the blockchain industry still lack the benefits of a more mature, coordinated system. In other words, the whole is not greater than the sum of its parts. Instead of functioning as an accessible online world, there remains a zero-sum aspect to it, as blockchains remain largely siloed.

Web3 Foundation and Polkadot, founded by Gavin Wood, set out to create a new model of boarding school called Web 3.0. The new model will be deprived of all the disadvantages of its previous version (Web 2.0), namely: centralization of data, data modification, lack of privacy and security, as well as the huge power in the hands of major corporations and companies that collect and use sensitive data for their own purposes.

Web 3.0 - will be a new stage in the evolution of information space in which a person will be fully owned by himself and will be free from outside influence. All information will be decentralized and protected by a complex system based on blockchain technology and, in particular, all realized and unrealized opportunities of Polkadot.