I don't know enough about Urbit's implementation or team to vouch for it, but I do find the basic idea promising: that we should have control over our own data,

I don't know enough about Urbit's implementation or team to vouch for it, but I do find the basic idea promising: that we should have control over our own data, and should be able to do whatever we want with it. I'm not sure why you though an ICO is a bad first impression. Yes, there were several scams but the blockchain space is full of very exciting opportunities. Some other commenter mentioned that a "new web" would have to provide sufficient value to the end user that the current version does not/can not. These experiments in decentralization are worth watching and probably where the "sufficient value" will come from to justify the use of new tech.