Posted at 2022.07.27 Category : 未分類
回収本騒ぎがありましたが、英語業界も他人事ではありませんね。TOEICを全く知らない人が教材作成に携わることはほとんどなくなりましたが、そこらへんの見極めは外側からは難しいものです。
Twitterで当該本のおかしいところを指摘していた人が何人もいましたが、IT関連は疎い自分だったら読み飛ばしていたかもしれません。
そこでWeb3について、ちょっと調べてみました。さすがはNew York Times丁寧に特集を組んでいました。暗号通貨との文脈で出てくる語のようです。Web1とWeb2の違いから説明してくれています。
I want to understand web3. But first, can you remind me what web1 and web2 were?
Sure. Web1, in the traditional telling, refers to the internet of the 1990s and early 2000s. It was the internet of blogs, message boards, and early portals like AOL and CompuServe. Most of what people did on web1 was passively read static web pages, and much of it was built using “open protocols” like HTTP, SMTP and FTP. (Don’t worry about what those things are — just know that an open protocol is a piece of web infrastructure that isn’t owned by a single company, and that the concept of open protocols is going to reappear a few sentences from now.)
Web2, the story goes, was the next phase of the internet, starting around 2005 or so — the one characterized by social media behemoths like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. In web2 (or Web 2.0, as it was usually called then), people began creating and posting their own content, actively participating in the internet rather than passively reading it. But most of that activity ended up being distributed and monetized by big companies, which kept most, if not all, of the money and control for themselves.
Web3, the story goes, will replace these centralized, corporate platforms with open protocols and decentralized, community-run networks, combining the open infrastructure of web1 with the public participation of web2.
最新の動きに疎いと次のような記事があるとなぜか安心してしまいます。WSJは英語と日本語を相互に参照しやすいので便利ですね。
Users and investors are re-evaluating token-based companies amid the broader cryptocurrency downturn
Web3ブーム崩壊の足音、仮想通貨暴落で道連れ
By Berber Jin 2022 年 7 月 12 日 04:18 JST
The cryptocurrency rout has spread to startups that offer users digital tokens, pushing down digital asset prices and driving away hordes of users.
暗号資産（仮想通貨）暴落の影響がデジタル資産を介したサービスを提供するスタートアップ企業にも広がってきた。
The startups—part of what has been called Web3—allowed users to play virtual games and collect digital assets, and the companies’ growth was hinged on interest from people eager to wade into blockchain-based assets. The broader cryptocurrency downturn this year is causing a downturn in users in many Web3 companies, and players and investors are re-evaluating the utility of token-based business models.
これらのスタートアップ企業は、ブロックチェーン（分散型台帳技術）技術を用いたサービスを提供する「Web（ウェブ）3」の一端を形成する。ユーザーは仮想ゲームをプレーしながら、トークンなどデジタル資産を手に入れることができる仕組みだ。ブロックチェーンを基盤とする資産に人々がどれほど関心を抱くかが、これら企業の成長を左右する。今年に入って仮想通貨がほぼ全面的に売り込まれていることで、ウェブ3企業の多くも苦境に追い込まれた。こうした中、ユーザーや投資家の間ではトークンに基づく事業モデルの有効性を見直す動きも出てきた。
NYTの記事に戻りますが、そうは言っても最近よく耳にするようになっているのは、資金も人も集まりつつあるからだそうです。
Why are so many people talking about web3 all of a sudden?
Part of it is the usual cocktail of hype, marketing and fear of missing the next big thing.
But the web3 boom also reflects the amount of capital, talent and energy pouring into crypto start-ups on the heels of a yearslong crypto bull market. Venture capital firms have put more than $27 billion into crypto-related projects in 2021 alone — more than the 10 previous years combined — and much of that capital has gone to web3 projects. Some big tech companies, such as Twitter and Reddit, have also started experimenting with their own web3 projects.
And the industry has become a magnet for tech talent, with many employees of big tech firms quitting cushy, stable jobs to go seek their fortunes in web3.
胡散臭そうという先入観でノーマークだったのですが、野次馬的な好奇心で少し学ばせてもらいました。
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