In the Catholic Peace Weekly column on Faith and Science, the writer recalls that in January 2016, at the World Economic Forum (WEF) held in Switzerland, German economist Klaus Schwab, then chairman, introduced the concept of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
The remarkably advanced science and technology of this era, including drones, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, 3D printing, virtual reality, big data, self-driving cars, blockchain, and quantum technology, are driving significant changes in modern civilization.
There have been several instances in human history when civilization underwent a revolutionary transformation. Alvin Toffler expressed this as three waves in his book, “The Third Wave.” The first wave was the Agricultural Revolution, which began approximately 10,000 years ago, during the Neolithic Age, following the end of the Ice Age. Humans, who had been wandering around hunting and gathering for over 2 million years since the Paleolithic Age, began to settle down and raise grains and livestock, and in the process, civilization began. The development of civilization, which encompasses the material and technological aspects, naturally led to the development of culture, the mental and social aspects of humans, and the wildness of humans gradually disappeared. It may not be unrelated to the fact that the word “agriculture” contains the word “culture”.
The second wave was the Industrial Revolution, which began in England in the 18th century and spread to Europe, marking a transition from an agricultural to an industrial society.
The third wave was the information revolution (digital revolution) in the late 20th-century industrialized society. However, among all these changes, the agricultural revolution is the most significant to humanity. The early civilizations that emerged in human history were founded on agriculture. Agriculture is the most fundamental means of addressing the basic problem of human beings' need to eat and live, so if there had been no agricultural revolution, there would have been no subsequent progress in civilization.
Agriculture is the process of artificially manipulating the natural environment of plants and animals that can become food for humans, as well as land and water, to convert and collect the energy of living things into a form applicable to humans. Grains produce organic substances, such as carbohydrates, which convert the sun's light energy into chemical energy that is valuable to humans. This process is caused by photosynthesis, a chemical reaction that occurs in plants. Surprisingly, the materials that plants need to make one molecule of glucose are only 6 carbon dioxide molecules, which exist in the air at a rate of only 0.03%, and 12 water molecules absorbed by the roots. When the sun’s light energy is applied to this, glucose, a carbohydrate, is synthesized by several enzymes inside the plants. This seemingly simple photosynthetic process is the basis for feeding all living things on Earth.
However, photosynthesis—the amazing ability of plants to convert light energy—is something that even advanced science and technology cannot yet imitate. Humans only harvest light energy through plants, and farmers are at the forefront of this work. The agricultural revolution is still in progress in the 21st century.
This third Sunday in July is ‘Farmers Sunday’, designated by the Korean Church. The current situation in rural areas is becoming increasingly challenging due to the decline and aging of the rural population, unstable farm income resulting from agricultural liberalization, and climate change. This is why we must gather our hearts and pray for our farmers, who silently work the land and harvest despite the many difficulties they face. “As long as the earth endures, sowing and harvesting, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease” (Genesis 8:22)