God of Wheat

The concept of "alienation" is not abstract philosophy, but rather concretely manifested in daily experiences: agricultural products in supermarkets stripped of their growth traces, animals simplified into symbols on social media, and the alienation of humans under the influence of technology. Thanks to Yuan Longping (1930–2021), a Chinese agricultural scientist and the ‘father’ of hybrid rice, food shortages in my generation have been completely eradicated. Unlike 10,000 years ago when we had to pray to a god for rain and consecration to avoid being drowned, today wheat is cultivated and harvested all year long. In China alone, we produce 137.5 million metric tons of wheat every year. The days of being constrained by ‘Tian’ (a divine entity) seem long gone. Now we no longer suffer from food deficiency in most places on this planet. For most people, it is about how, where, and what we eat, regardless of the country or continent. I wonder, as technology has permeated everything, including food, is the wheat still the same wheat? And are we still who we used to be?