Blog:
Newconomics 2023 - Meet our Speakers: Conor McNicholas
If you’ve signed up to join us in Lisbon for the Newconomics event in November, then you’re in for a treat with our expert speakers, panel discussions and even a blockchain hack event. It’s going to be a great place for Web3 people to network and for those who are curious about how they can bring these technologies into their business for a more democratic and innovative future. One of our guests at the event is former NME editor and leading media industry consultant Conor McNicholas. He shared a little of what he finds interesting about a future of new economics.
“To me Web3 represents the possibility of a more balanced data ecosystem. I’d like to see a world of digital equality where the participants are protected and rewarded as much as the platforms.
In principle, there’s an opportunity for a Web3 mirror for everything we have now – shopping, social, creator spaces, news and workspaces. We are likely to get there in stages. Stage 1 is to build a parallel Web3 dimension for all that we currently have. Stage 2 is to make the case for people to come over. Permanently.
The thing is, Web3 isn’t in the interests of the currently controlling platforms of Web2, so they’re not going to help. Plus, we haven’t yet found the right, simple messaging and language to make the case for the benefits of a Web3-based digital life. People will be brought in by practical functionality not pure principles, so building benefit-based use cases will be the key driver to change. It’s got to be a better mousetrap.
I’d like to see us bridge the gap between being together and apart. At the moment, it’s pretty much a binary choice. I don’t think we’ve properly explored that bridgespace yet, and we’ve still not built the right collaboration and/or project management platform. The current generation are a bit better, but they’re all so compromised. This area needs a fundamental rethink.
Done right, through Web3, work is only going to get better. It has the possibility of being more respectful of us as humans, as well as measuring our value-creation. Work has the opportunity to become fundamentally aligned with the needs of the planet. Those two trends are macro vectors that are essential to the future of life itself. We need to optimise for long-term sustainability, not just short-term growth.
There are examples of Web3 platforms that I really like already. I love what Roneil Rumburg and Forrest Browning have done at Audius, the decentralised music streaming platform. Their ability to envision and then execute to quality is truly brilliant. The excellence of their work builds respect and confidence for the whole sector. They’ve proved it can work.”
Find out more about the new economics of Web3 and how it can change the way we work together at the Newconomics event in Lisbon. Full details and registration can be found on the website.
