Essays

Computers - our best friend or worst enemy?(C2)

CEFR C2

After a class discussion on computers and the future, your English teacher at the university/college has asked you to write an essay entitled "Computers: Our best friend or worst enemy?"

Write your essay.

Computers - our best friend or worst enemy?

We have created a new era of technology with an explosion of contemporary inventions that we take pride in nowadays, among which we depend the most on computers. It has percolated each and every spot of our lives, and we took it for granted these days. The cashiers from stores, the mobile phones we utilize, even the artificial intelligence we made are accomplishments the computer has attained. However, recently a group of people has come to announce that it should be banned in view of the fact that it is detrimental to our society and they consider it as "anti-social and lazy", while others possess opposite opinions and declare that we cannot live without the presence of it. Both parties have strong reasoning behind their statement; hence, the answer to the question regarding the banning of computers is still in the air.

On one hand, this machine does wonders when it comes to saving up time; take traveling or printing for instance. In ancient times, people would have to walk for days to go from one village to another and books were compelled to be handwritten, while the said tasks all can be done with ease and in great efficiency today due to the invention of printers and cars. We also rely on it for extreme and delicate tasks, for example, controlling space vehicles and carrying out underwater robotic missions. It has also proven itself extremely valuable in the area of biology, where numerous experiments on DNA and even cloning are proved possible for carrying out.

On the other hand, we have grown such fond of these technologies and gadgets that, as a result, we sometimes become adapt to not using our memory to store basic information anymore. What for, if we can record them precisely in our pocket-sized smartphones? But even more concerning is the fact that the development of artificial intelligence could result in a world completely controlled by them. It is human nature to use our brain less if tasks like thinking, memorizing, or calculating can be done by others - for instance computers. In the long run, we will get increasingly dependent and indolent due to it.

In my opinion, I acknowledge that most of our attitude towards the computer is definitely far from acceptable, but if we use it wisely and don't depend on it exceedingly, we may be able to control it well and co-exist with it in harmony for decades in the future to come.

* I tried to write a sci-fi about AI at nine, gave up, then four years later I looked back and read it. It turned out to be really cringy and just plain horrifying. The plot, the dialogues... Especially the dialogues. 

* Lame ending.

* I still don't have a phone, much less a video game to play throughout elementary and probably junior high school.