NEAR — Evolution
In our previous blog we explained the essence of the NEAR protocol and how its focus on usability is the major differentiator.
NEAR is not just about the code
The code/protocol is of course important and some great foundations have been laid. However, NEAR’s impact will derive from multiple real-world applications that resonate really well with the multitude of different areas of human endeavour they seek to serve. So how do such developments get cultivated?
Here’s a clue…the answer is not top-down. It would be easy to naively constrain such work within a framework. But that is not what is being done.
Instead groups of like-minded people are being encouraged to work together …on whatever they need to or want to. The purpose of these groups is to coalesce interest and talent around a particular need, subject, geography, specialism, interest. In fact the list goes on.
Such groups are called Guilds. I was not sure of the name initially but when I consider the definition provided by wikipedia here as: “A guild is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area”, then it fits really well.
There are at least 11 guilds currently, as introduced in the nearguilds website.
One of the really intriguing guilds is the 4NTS guild who describe themselves as… a band of fools and dreamers intent on building out the NEAR ecosystem. They work in collaboration with the NEAR core team and existing guilds and projects within the ecosystem to better support the development of the open web. WOW… with its nice play on words this really hints at how lots of “ants” can make a huge difference.
EVOLUTION not revolution
Question: how does such a structure evolve?
Answer by mimicking nature like a virus, a beneficial virus, which adjusts and mutates to cope with ever changing surroundings.
This work does not exist in isolation — these surroundings strongly influence it.
Currently there are many networks addressing;
- Fundamental security
- Intelligent information exchange(via smart contracts)
- Sheer speed
- Extraction, processing and delivery of useful information
- Cross chain communication
- Computing resource
Within the context of these (and others yet to be developed) NEAR is helping to create Web 3.0 as the replacement technology benefiting more than 3 Billion people for 80% of their waking hours every single day, as explained by Fabric ventures in their article “What Is Web 3.0 & Why It Matters”
Web 3.0 being not just a Web 2.0 replacement but a richer, fairer environment in which there is more equitable distribution of reward.
The work of the NEAR Guilds is therefore to facilitate the evolution of numerous, beneficial real-world applications and become this beneficial virus!
…and NEXT
We have demonstrated how NEAR has two fabulous facets:
- easy to use code
- an ever widening range of real-world applications built by developers self organized into supportive specialized communities
Our next post explores Governance of this emergent ecosystem.
LunaNova will continue to keep you informed of developments in NEAR’s governance. If you have any questions about this or any aspect of our NEAR validator services, please contact us via our website.
A pdf detailing our NEAR validator service is available here.
