# The web3 world computer is at a 1970 level of development (Interconnected)

<https://interconnected.org/home/2022/05/20/fermi>

- Host: [interconnected.org](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/hosts/interconnected.org/)
- Saved: May 26, 2022 (2022-05-26T11:22:08Z)
- Record: https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/56a4348749d1/
- JSON: https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/56a4348749d1.json

## What Jamie wrote

I'd like to quote this whole article from Webb. Instead maybe just click on it and read the whole thing. I would echo the statements in very similar ways.

Looking at the code running on Ethereum… 

> I get the same feeling as when I read the source code for the original Unix operating system, which is basically the ur-OS that either directly or indirectly (because it established the concepts) underpins this epoch’s computing environment.

Decomposing words. Words matter. I think calling these "smart contracts" will be seen as a mistake. It frames your mind around a problem in a specific way. I’m not sure objects would be any better, but at least they wouldn't have the baggage of the word contract. Given Vitalik's recent use of the term "[soulbound](https://vitalik.ca/general/2022/01/26/soulbound.html)", the track record for naming things may not be so great. 😂

> Smart contracts aren’t contracts, that’s a financial or legal framing. Smart contracts are object instances, in the object-oriented code sense, and the Ethereum blockchain is a shared object runtime.

Opening up the development environment with other runtimes will eventually happen.

> Or maybe it would be worth bullying a Smalltalk-like expressive development environment into existence, sitting atop today’s Ethereum world computer, however slowly it run, just to see what could be created with that new clay.

The excitement for the future is shared.

> If the web3 world computer has only just reached 1970 then, first, don’t expect too much. There’s real utility to be found but in very prescribed use cases. But also, second, there are wild and unrecognizable transformations to come. There is room for imagination and invention.

It will be fun to see how this all evolves.

## Facts

- Kind: [Page](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/kinds/page/)

## Appears in

- [WT221: Weekly Thing #221 / Rebooting, Incidents, Risk](https://weekly.thingelstad.com/archive/221/), Notable

## Mentions

- [Soulbound](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/0bed041245c5/) (vitalik.ca, January 26, 2022)

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## Elsewhere

- Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://interconnected.org/home/2022/05/20/fermi