[In-Depth Look] The True Protagonists of the 4th Industrial Revolution

Dongchul Kim, Ph.D. in Engineering · Advisor at Bespin Global

Originally, coal was used as firewood or valued for its high heat to melt metals. Later, when there was no more wood to use, attention turned to coal. Before the 1950s, Korea was mostly barren hills due to war and deforestation. With James Watt's invention of the steam engine, the era of coal as an energy source truly began. This period marked the start of the Industrial Revolution, during which social infrastructure and technical challenges such as mining, transportation, and iron ore smelting developed simultaneously.

The first Industrial Revolution, which is often memorized superficially in school, is described as the development of textile technology through the invention of the steam engine. However, this is merely a fragment of common knowledge. With the mass production of cotton textiles, emerging industrial capitalists appeared, the medieval class system changed, and the number of people with voting rights increased. It is an oversimplification to summarize the series of social, political, and economic changes that occurred in Britain at that time in a single sentence.

The second Industrial Revolution is difficult to discuss without mentioning the use of electricity, represented by Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla. We enjoy countless benefits of civilization based on their inventions. Electricity, though invisible, has an incredible function of illuminating the world through light bulbs. It was a turning point that dramatically extended human working hours.

At the core of the second Industrial Revolution, known for mass production and automation, lies the spread of petroleum energy. Asphalt extracted from crude oil was used to build roads, gasoline and diesel served as fuel for automobiles, and byproducts like nylon and plastics left nothing wasted. The shift from coal to petroleum holds strategic power beyond what one might imagine. Oil-producing countries suddenly became wealthy nations. Countries like Korea, which must import all their oil, have to constantly monitor the oil-producing countries and exchange rate trends. The weaponization of oil by producing countries is not a recent phenomenon.

The fourth Industrial Revolution, emerging with ICBM (IoT, Cloud, Big Data, Mobile), might actually be considered a second revolution in IT. It seems more about changing the IT environment than transforming the world. If artificial intelligence (AI) that replaces humans emerges in the future, the world will undergo chaotic changes, but this requires more time at the current technological stage. In the context above, the ongoing innovation in the energy sector is undoubtedly the use of hydrogen. Since there is no need to watch advanced or oil-producing countries, the invisible energy economic vassal system can disappear instantly. Energy democratization?this could be another form of the fourth Industrial Revolution.

Hyundai Motor Company in Korea is already producing and exporting hydrogen cars and fuel cells. The energy capabilities, previously concentrated in resource-rich countries, are undergoing significant changes in the hydrogen era. Countries that once built colonies to secure resources or boasted as oil producers controlling other nations’ lifelines will be tense in the upcoming hydrogen energy era. The industrial revolution triggered by IT and the energy industrial revolution will soon create synergy, alternating in precedence, and transform the world into a true fourth Industrial Revolution.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.