# The Semantic Web

Berners-Lee, Hendler, and Lassila's vision of a machine-readable web of meaning — the 'Read-Write-Own' turn.

## Summary

This *Scientific American* article argued that the Web should carry structured, machine-readable meaning so software agents could act on data — booking, comparing, reasoning — rather than merely displaying pages for humans. It introduced the broad public to the idea of data with explicit semantics.

## Why it matters

The [Semantic Web](/wiki/semantic-web.md) is the bridge era in the Web 1.0 → 4.0 framing: the move from a read-write web toward one where agents read and act. The Independent Internet extends this with the missing axis — *control* over the compute and data those agents touch. Authored by [Berners-Lee](/wiki/berners-lee.md).

> Part of the AP0110.ORG source library. See the [wiki overview](/wiki.md).

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## Backlinks

Pages that link here:

- [Tim Berners-Lee](/wiki/berners-lee.md) — Inventor of the World Wide Web and advocate for a decentralized, machine-readable, user-controlled web.
- [Glossary](/wiki/glossary.md) — Formal definitions of the key terms behind the Independent Internet and Web 4.0, as used across this wiki, with links to source material.
- [The Semantic Web](/wiki/semantic-web.md) — A web of machine-readable meaning where software agents can act on data, not just display it — the bridge toward Web 4.0.