Web3's future #fail is avoidable

The article argues that Web3's likely failure lies where the technology meets people, and that it can be avoided by treating Web3 as sociotechnology rather than mere technology. It defines Web3 as including distributed ledger technology such as blockchain, information-centric networking such as IPFS, and self-sovereign identity. It argues that decentralized systems cannot be built without considering social factors, and that social scientists are too few among Web3 projects. It also contends that computer science's approach to identity, which treats people as addressable entities, clashes with social science's view of identity as a continuous process of sense-making, and asks whether Web3 can deliver its promised benefits under that approach.