Is Web3 different from Web2 in any real way beyond its name?

I'd say these are notional phases in the evolution of the Internet. The definitions can vary, the division lines can be blurry, but generally I would characterize Web3 as a move towards a more decentralized form of the Internet with more pronounced ownership by users (a natural effect of decentralization with power being dispersed among growing number of actors).

The main difference I see is that Web3 is decentralized and runs on the blockchain by design. While Web2 is widely present today, and most of the time, you get service in exchange for a personal date.

There are differences between Web3 and Web2 that are mostly involved in trust and access. I can’t say for sure whether those two things will hold true and be enough to extend the gold rush we’ve seen with Web3/Crypto to date. But there is both an opportunity and a need to gain more freedom from the largest internet players. There is also a need to extend capabilities in finance and exchange to everyone. In theory, capabilities that have historically belonged to large financial institutions, and even governments, could be delivered in ways that allow a specialist in Angola to work directly with a buyer or exchange in Alaska. Only time will tell if this “decentralization” will be meaningful. There are certainly reasons to suggest that decentralization efforts today are as similar to centralization as Tomato and “ToMAHto” — it’s the same fruit, it just sounds different.