Web 4.0

The future is approaching fast. While we have just done a deep dive into Web 3.0 in the industry, fast approaching is Web 4.0. This will be the full immersion world of Augmented Reality (AR) with earning, playing, and living. Web 4.0, much akin to Web 3.0, will be all about blurring the lines of living in the physical world with active crossovers into the digital world. It will be the first gateway into a digital existence for humanity.

Augmented Reality will facilitate the growth of Web 4.0. When we access information about our physical environment on demand, we will achieve a new mental shift. For example, if you are walking a trail in a forest and come to a point where there is a jump required, you currently take the leap of faith without any knowledge. With AR, you will immediately search to see if this is a safe jump. If you see that there are one thousand reviews saying that most people break or twist their ankle here, you will probably decide not to proceed. This type of on-demand information about the world does not currently exist. As another example, if you are sitting in a lobby waiting for your next meeting and you happen to admire the coffee table, your extent of engagement was limited to its admiration. With AR you will be able to search that table and find out where you can purchase it and place the order before your meeting begins. If you happen to be traveling, then your new coffee table will be at your home or office before you even get back from your travels.

The new paradigm shift created by AR will be of ultimate market efficiency. This market efficiency will eliminate many time delays and, locational based, missed opportunities for producers and consumers. No longer will the customer have to go to a particular site to acquire products. The entire world will become your marketplace. Additionally, the world will also become a manufacturer’s live showroom. Product placement will be global and omnipresent and purchase will be instant.

Once humanity achieves this status, our minds will accordingly shift to this level of efficiency in our consumption. It will also mean a world where knowledge provided instantly and universally by our fellow peers will allow us to optimize our engagement with the physical world. Due to the advent of GPS, we barely make wrong turns driving down the road to our destinations. The effect of AR will be the same for most of our engagement with the different elements of the physical world. It will create countless challenges for existing businesses as they adjust to this new paradigm shift. Simultaneously it while create enormous opportunities for new startups, unleashing human ingenuity on the grandest scale.