Essay on “Computer: A Boon or A Bane” for Kids and Students, English, Paragraph, Speech for Class 8, 9, 10, 12, College and Competitive Exams.

Computer: A Boon or A Bane

“Computer is not a magical device. It possess no I.Q. or intelligence of its own. Its I.Q. is zero. It has to be told what to perform and in what sequence. Hence only the user can determine what task a computer will perform. A computer can’t take any decision at its own until it is programmed to do so. These are some mechanical deficiency of the computers, but in addition to these technical flaws, the invention of computer has adversely affected the human function, the social economic fabric of the nation.”

Today, there is hardly any corner of our life left unaffected by the computers. We find the computers working everywhere in schools, banks, shops, hospitals, restaurants, post offices, government offices, railway or bus reservation counters, travel companies and all such utility service departments. The word computer comes from the word “Computer” that means to calculate. But now-a-day more than 80% of the work done by computer is of non -mathematical or non -numerical nature. Hence a computer may be defined as a device that operates upon information or data. The fact that the computers process data is so fundamental that many people have started calling it a data processor. The name date processor is more comprehensive as it covers not only the computing work but also performs other functions with the data like, processing, merging, sorting, printing etc.

Computer has brought about an amazing revolution in the life around. In the present day world, its use, now it so appears, has become a necessity, and has created for itself an indispensability whether one goes to a railway station or to an airport for reservations; goes to the market for purchases or to any bank to withdraw money or to know the balance of one’s account-on the table or the counter is the computer telling one in no time all the details that one wants to know. Does it not look wonderful that sitting in one city up north one can get his reservation in trains done or cancelled in deep south of one’s country thousands of miles away; or to perform the same feat in one’s air-travels from one country to another. Messages can be transmitted in the twinkling of any eye on E-mail or fax letters which used to take days and even weeks sometimes are sent and delivered right her and now. Money can be withdrawn from one’s account by just pressing the button of the booth of our bank by the road side, sliding into it one’s account number card and crisp notes are available in another slot of the same machine no hassles of presenting the cheque, asking for the balance or getting the payment everything so automatic and so quick. In the busy world as of today, going busier every day, such ready service is saving so much time, so much energy, so much manpower which can be better utilized in some other profitable pursuit. In the medical science, particularly in the field of Surgery, unthinkable and unimaginable feats are being performed-all with the help of computerized gadgets.

Today the computer has become corner stone of our industrial and scientific development. The computers have shrunk the world into a room. In all walks of life from manufacturing of a small item, to explorations of ocean and space, computer are being used extensively. Robots are being used in study of volcanoes in space research, In medical science, remotely commanded by the computers. This omnipotent device has taken entry into such diverse areas, like sports, agriculture, medicine, business, space, ocean that has become an indispensable gadget. No works of art or any great scripture or the shakes spearman tragedies have had so spasmodic effect on human society than the computer making the present world totally dependent on it. Rightly said by someone that since the existence of human on earth, it has never encountered anything as complex and ingeniously designed, as compute. “Computer is a person, unable to walk, but its mind transcends the barriers of space,” retorted Dr. Stephen. It is indeed an example of the excellence of human mind, which had done wonders and made the creator himself slave to a great extent.

There are several fields in which computers may be used or applied such as business application, scientific applications, medical, engineering, educational programmes. Computerized information collected and feed while investigating cases helps the law and order agencies. Libraries or museums have in the computer a ready reckoner of their data; of the number and nature of specimen or books available which otherwise would have meant a herculean effort earlier.

But every invention has its merits and demerits, and so the computer is no exception. Computer is a device having no feeling. It is devoid of emotions and instincts as it is simply a machine, have no soul or heart. Computer can’t make any decision at its own. The judgment is based on the instructions given to it’s by the user. Although man has succeeded in building a memory for the computer but no computer possesses the equivalent of a human heart. A computer can’t judge good or bad effects or its decision.

The invention of nuclear weapons, most destructive in nature, worships, space ships have been made possible with the invention of computers. Had there been no computers, the world of today would not have been on the climax of destruction. Push of one button cah ruin any country and is sufficient to destroy the millions and billions of innocent people. Today the so called developed countries are using the computers, busy in inventing newer technology of modern war-fare. The use of missiles, dropping of nuclear bombs, destroying the basic amenities, communication system of any nation has become so easy that they have started using them for aggrandizement of their imperialistic motives.

Although the computer on one side helped the mankind to solve many serious problems yet on the other side it has put the world at the verge of destruction. In spite of that it is not at all the fault of the computer itself. It is a machine which carries on the orders of the user, therefore, fault lies with the user not with the computer. Summarily computer has worked out the most challenging problems like energy crisis, cancer research, water purification, and helped man to explore the space, ocean and other hidden secrets of the universe. The computer is a boon or a bane depends, on its use. If used for the benefits of the mankind it is a boon, if used for the evil purpose, it is a bane. Remember the story of Alladin and Genie, Genie obeys order of Alladin, whether wrong or right, good or bad, in the same way, the computer obeys the orders and instructions of its user

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Computers in Education: More a Boon Than a Bane Essay

Introduction.

There can be no doubt that computers present modern-day children with unprecedented opportunities to add fun and excitement, precision and accuracy, speed of comprehension, and comprehensiveness to their education. It is also common knowledge that computers, especially when connected to the internet, present distractions that could lead to the self-destruction of even adults, not to speak of young impressionable, sensitive, vulnerable children. Parents and teachers, however, sometimes forget the fact that the use of computers by children could lead to certain physical, emotional, and psycho-social problems. This paper surveys the ways in which computers can aid education, and, while taking note of the common dangers of computer use among children, arrives at the conclusion that computers, wisely used, under proper guidance, are more a boon than a bane to young minds that hunger and thirst for knowledge.

Computers are a fact of life in every area of modern life, and there is no wishing away their impact on the minds of children. In such a context, it would surely be foolish not to make use of computers in education. The enormous benefits of computer-aided education cannot be over-emphasized Most schools in the developed world use some kind of Information Communication Technology in their classrooms. Information Technology is also a core subject that is taught and tested in many schools. The infinite resources of the World Wide Web can be and are being used to great advantage in almost all schools. Most schools, moreover, have a system by which children can communicate with their teachers online, from home, or elsewhere. They can use the system to raise questions, clarify doubts, even submit assignments from remote locations; and it is an attested fact that most children, (if not all teachers) soon become enamored of this manner of learning and teaching.

Children who have become used to the sight of computers at home are fascinated by them and most parents find that the computer is used as an educational tool by the children, even without their suggesting it. Once children get ‘the hang of’ a computer, they quickly become aware of the various uses they can put it to, and even learn for themselves what they need to do when the operating system ‘hangs’. Thus, one of the greatest advantages of the computer as a tool in education is the fact that it builds the child’s capacity to learn things independently. It is a well-known principle of pedagogy that the things that one learns on one’s own initiative serve to enhance both one’s core knowledge and to strengthen one’s capacity to increase it. As Richard Feynman tells the schoolteacher in his account of one of several adventures of a ‘curious character’: “You’ll have to go ask the girls—they understood what…it was right away” (Feynman 1992, p. 44). Some children, however, may perhaps need to be guided to appreciate the vast educational possibilities of the computer. Such children may need to be introduced to the techniques of creating and editing word documents or spreadsheets; they may need to watch someone else at work before creating a drawing using the “Paint” tool on the computer, but no child ever seems to need any instruction on how to play computer games.

Computer games can serve a double purpose when such programs are used to support educational initiatives. The child sees it as a game, as something that he can enjoy, as something that he might approach in a competitive spirit, and finally after finding that he could easily excel in it, might be surprised to know that it had fulfilled an educational purpose too! Teachers and parents have discovered the technique of using computer game activities to sugarcoat lessons and have seen for themselves how easily educational pills are swallowed along with the syrup of computer games.

Blinded by the miracles of the technological revolution, one might perhaps need to be reminded of the possible dangers presented by the ready access to such “new worlds at the speed of light” (Coveney and Highfield 1991, p. 78). Some of these dangers relate to the use, misuse, abuse, or overuse of computers by children and the possibility of adults/ amoral children maliciously targeting innocent children. Fritjof Capra’s statement in a different context appears particularly relevant here: “it should by now be abundantly clear that unlimited expansion in a finite environment can only lead to disaster” (Capra 1982, p. 223).

One would only need to picture a child who might start off by using the computer for legitimate reasons of study, hoping to gain an A+ grade. Such a child would initially use the system and the attendant facilities of available accessories and the internet purely for purposes of genuine study and research. The next stage would begin with the rationalization that, since the computer is capable of a large number of simultaneous functions, there could be no serious objection to leaving one’s mailbox or chat window open for ready access, whenever one would need to ‘take a break’ from learning. Such a child might then begin to think that since the computer offers the facility of listening to music while one is engaged in one’s research, one should make full use of such an excellent property. Within weeks or months, or even days or hours, the situation might degenerate to one in which research/learning provides the break in instructive activities such as chatting, emailing, or downloading music.

Some children might make the mistake of over-using computers—such as by basing all their learning activities (work on assignments and seminars or preparing for tests and examinations) on information that can readily be gained, frequently in a predigested form from Wikipedia or Spark Notes . This is perhaps the main reason why children fail to acquire the real knowledge that should last to serve them a lifetime. Such an advantage would have accrued to them if only they had made intelligent use of the resources available in libraries in the form of books, journals, magazines, pamphlets, and reports, in addition to the resources available online. Overuse of computers can cause health problems too—it can lead to eye fatigue, radiation syndrome, carpal tunnel syndrome, and various aches and pains of the body, especially of the vertebral column. Specialists of all systems of medicine emphasize the fact that such health problems caused by the use of computers can be avoided by the simple expedient of taking short breaks while working on the system.

As everyone knows, the various resources of the internet can be and are frequently abused. One hears more and more these days of cyberbullying, cybersex, and various other ways in which children can be exploited via the World Wide Web. There have been cases of cyberbullies driving their victims to suicide; students have also entered into suicide pacts or joined suicide cults as a result of the attractively packaged information made available on certain websites. Other children have found their personal details (revealed by them to persons whom they had considered worthy of trust) splashed in the public webspace. Some have been surprised to find ‘doctored’ pictures depicting them in poses they would never even have imagined in their wildest dreams. Others are lured by strangers who reveal attractive but false bits of ‘information and ultimately end up in extremely vulnerable situations.

The solution to most of the problems that may accompany the use of computers in education is proper adult control, supervision, and guidance. Teachers in school and parents at home should realize the need to make responsible decisions for and on behalf of the minor children. Adults should personally monitor (with the help of software or hardware if necessary) the activities that the children under their care engage in, on computers. A few simple safeguards may go a long way in ensuring this—the placing of computers in locations of public view, the regular monitoring of computer activity, and above all, the creation of an atmosphere of trust in which the younger and the older generation find that each can help and be helped by the other.

Ian Jack speaks of how “during our school lunch hours in the late 1950s, a group of us would amuse ourselves by crossing the playing fields and following a small river that ran through a culvert under the railway, to emerge by the side of what had been a square reservoir, now empty of water and full of weeds” (Jack 2005, p. 11). This activity probably helped Jack to make some sense of his life and the universe at that point in time. However, the twenty-first century would definitely find young George’s prescription of computer-aided learning of physics more appealing than the vignette painted by Jack, for “that’s what you [now] need to understand the Universe around you” (Hawking and Hawking 2007, p. 289).

There can be no better exposition of the invaluable benefits of computer-mediated education than this book co-authored by the great Stephen Hawking, in which the protagonist George, wins an inter-school competition and wins over his science-fighting technology-hating father to a more rational approach to the use of Science for the good of humanity and the good of the planet Earth. One can only wish that every child in the world could be welcomed to the computer-aided learning adventure that education can and should be, with the words used by Cosmos the computer to young George in Hawking’s story: “Welcome…to the Universe” (Hawking and Hawking 2007, p.42).

Capra, Fritjof. (1982). The Turning Point: Science, Society, and the Rising Culture . London: Flamingo.

Coveney, Peter, and Roger Highfield. (1991). The Arrow of Time . London: Flamingo.

Feynman, Richard P. (1992) “Surely You’re Joking, Mr Feynman!”:Adventures of a Curious Character . London: Vintage.

Hawking, Lucy, and Stephen Hawking. (2007). George’s Secret Key to the Universe . London: Doubleday.

Jack, Ian. “Motley Notes.” Granta 89: The Factory , 2005, pp.7-11.

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  • Computer : A Boon or a Bane

Category : Essays

"Computer is not a magical device. It possesses no I.Q. or intelligence of its own. Its I. Q. is zero. It has to be told what to perform and in what sequence. Hence only the user can determine what task a computer will perform. A computer can't take any decision at its own until it is programmed to do so. These are some mechanical efficiency of the computers, but in addition to these technical flaws, the invention of computer has adversely affected the human function, the social economic fabric of the nations."

Today hardly any comer of our life is left unaffected by the computers. In [ schools, banks, shops, hospitals, restaurants, post offices, government offices. railway or bus reservation counters, travel companies and all such utility service departments, we find the computers working everywhere.

For the last two decades, the world seems to have undergone a computer revolution. Initially, computers were designed to solve the complicated scientific problems, but now-a-days, computers are becoming indispensable day-by-day. Necessity is the mother of invention, the saying holds true for computers, as it was initially invented for fast and accurate calculations. The word computer comes from the word "Compute", that means to calculate. So a computer was normally considered to be a calculating device that can perform arithmetic calculations at an enormous speed and with perfect accuracy. But now-a-days more than 80% of the work done by computers is of non-mathematical or non-numerical nature. Hence to define a computer merely a calculating machine does not hold good in present day situation. To be correct and more precise, a computer may be defined as a device that operates upon information or data. The fact that the computers process data is so fundamental that many people have started calling it a data processor. The name data processor is more comprehensive as it covers not only the computing work but also performs other functions with the data like, processing, merging, sorting, printing etc.

Today the computer has become cornerstone of our industrial and scientific development. The computers have shrank the world into a room. In all walks of life from manufacturing of a small item, to exploration of ocean and space, computers are being used extensively. Robots are being used in study of volcanoes in space research, in medical science, remotely commanded by the computers. This omnipotent device has taken entry into such diverse areas like sports, agriculture, medicine, business, space, ocean that has become an indispensable gadget.   

Is computer a boon or a bane ?

No works of an or any great scripture or the Shakespearean tragedies have had so spasmodic effect on human society than the computer, making the present world totally dependent on it. Rightly said by someone that since the existence of human earth, it has never encountered anything as complex and ingeniously design, as computer. ^Computer is a person, unable to walk, but its mind transcend the barriers of space", retorted Dr. Stephen. It is indeed an example of the excellence of human mind, which had done wonders and made the creator himself slave to a great extent.

 Characteristics of Computers :

SPEED:- Computer is such a fast working device, that can perform in record the amount of work that a human being can't think of doing it manually. A computer does in one minute, what a man cannot even imagine. A powerful computer is capable of performing about 3 to 4 million simple arithmetic operations per second. While talking about the speed of a computer, the unit of speed are not the seconds or the milliseconds but microseconds (10'") or nanoseconds (10') or the picoseconds (10-12)

ACCURACY :- The accuracy of the computers is unparalleled or unchallengeable. Each calculation is performed with same accuracy. Error may occur in a computer, but errors are not due to wrong calculations done by the computer but due wrong instruction given by the user.

DILIGENCE : - Unlike human being, a computer is totally free from monotony tiredness, lack of concentration, boredom etc. So a computer can work regularly for any longer period of time, without creating any error and without feeling boredom or monotonousness. Due to this characteristic, a computer surely score over beings in doing outline jobs with accuracy and speed. What man or any good numbers of persons can't do in years altogether with such accuracy and without getting bore can be done by a computer in minutes.

VERSATILITY :- Versatility is one of the most wonderful characteristics a computer. At one moment it is preparing electricity bills the next movement it can generate result of university and the next moment it can trace an important file. All that is required to give appropriate instruction to the computer. A computer is capable, provided the task should be reduced to a series of logical steps.

MEMORY :- As soon as a human being acquires new knowledge, the brain subconsciously selects what he feels to be important and worth retaining in him memory and relegates unimportant details to the back of the mind or just thrown that out of memory. While such is not a case with computer. It can store and recall any amount of information because of its secondary storage capability. Every piece of information can be retained as long as desired by the user and can be recalled as and when required. Even after several years the information recalled will be as accurate as on the day it was fed into the computer.

With such important and wonderful characteristic computers has ushered in all aspects of business, science, research and daily routine of a man. Sitting here one is able to communicate with one's kith and kin sitting millions mile away. Computers regarded as a work of its own and within. The most complicated medical operations, the most complexes scientific calculations, has become very easy with the invention of computers. The discovery of new planets, stars, man's approach to Saturn, Mars, Moon and exploration of hitherto hidden secrets of space, have become possible with the help of computers.

Short comings:

But every invention has its merits and demerits, and so the computer is no exception. Computer is a device having no feelings. It is devoid of emotions and instincts as it is simply a machine, have no soul or heart. Computer can't make any judgment at its own. The judgment is based on the instructions given to it by the user. Although man has succeeded in building a memory for the computer but no computer possesses the equivalent of a human heart. A computer can't judge good or bad effects of its decision.

Moreover computer is not a magical device. It processes no I.Q. or intelligence of its own. Its I.Q. is zero. It has to be told what to perform and in what sequence. Hence only the user can determine what task a computer will perform. A computer can't take any decision at its own unless it is programmed to do so. These are some mechanical deficiency of the computers, but in addition to these technical flaws, the invention of computer has adversely affected the human life, the social economic fabric of the nations.

As already mentioned, a computer can perform the work with such accuracy and speed any any person can't perform even in years. The problem of unemployment faced by so many countries including India is further worsened by the use of computers in various offices and departments where one side the requirement of manpower is decreased with the use computers, the IT industry has generated a good number of employment opportunities on the other.

 The invention of nuclear weapons, most destructive in nature, warships, space ships have been made possible with the invention of computers. Had there been no computers, the world of today would not have been on the climax of destruction. Push of one button can destroy any country and is sufficient to destroy the millions and billions of innocent people. Today the so called developed countries are using the computers, busy in inventing newer technology of modem war fare. The use of missiles, dropping of nuclear bombs, destroying the basic amenities, communication system of any nation has become so easy that they have started using them for their aggrandizement of their imperialistic motives.

Yes. indeed, the computers on the one side helped the mankind to solve many crucial problems, on the other side it has put the world at the verge of destruction spite of that it is not at all the fault of the computers itself. It is a machine which obeys of the orders of the user, therefore, fault lies with the user not with the computer

Summarily computers has solved most challenging problems like energy crisis a cancer research, water purification, and helped man to explore the space, ocean and other hidden secrets of the universe. The computer is a boon or a bane depends, on its use. If used for the evil purpose benefits of the mankind it is a boon, if used for it is a bane. Remember the story of Alladin and genie, genie obeys order of Alladin whether wrong or right, good or bad, in the same way, the computer obeys the orders and instructions of its user.

1. deficiency— inadequacy, insufficiency. 2. comprehensive— fullness, including all everything. 3. cornerstone — basis, foundation, the Fundamental assumptions underlying an explanation. 4, exploration— geographic expedition, a careful systematic sea 5. omnipotent — almighty, all-powerful. 6. spasmodic— convulsive, fitful. Spas 7. transcends— exceeds, oversteps, surpasses. 8. boredom— the feeling of being by something tedious, ennui, tedium. 9. versatility— skillfulness, having a wide van of skills. 10. relegates— refer to another, banishes, kicks downstairs. 11. invention conception, innovation. 12. conclude— bring to a close, reason. 13. weapons— a ma of persuading or arguing, artilleries. 14. sufficient— of a quantity that can fulfill a if or requirement but without being abundant. 15. aggrandizement— elevation 16. destruction — an event that destroys something, demolition, devastation 17. purification — cleaning by getting rid of impurities, cleansing, purge. 18. mankind all of the inhabitants of the earth, human beings, humanity.

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Essay on Computer: Boon or Bane?

In everyday life, people constantly have to face and fight evil. Judge for yourself: the coffee is evil, salt (and sugar too) is evil, tobacco smoking (including passive) is evil, alcohol (even light beer) is evil, drugs (without options) is evil. Some people even consider money as evil. To say nothing about the Internet in general and computers in particular.

Since the computer stopped being an attribute of wealth and prestige, and settled our homes, the debate about whether a computer is a boon or bane is on. There are some TV shows, in which some solid people from different bodies and agencies argue their point of view. So, medical theorists from the Department of Health constantly talk about the damage computer can cause to the people, who are using them, and how fragile the psyche of the child is in this regard. To what education officials discreetly nodding, as if agreeing with opponents, saying, “Yes, it is harmful,” but stubbornly continue to push through the argument that computer is the engine of progress.

The computer is a bane and not by very glossy magazines, even newspapers also consider it their duty to periodically post articles by authors from opposite camps. Not to mention the Internet! In the World Wide Web, you can find a great many articles speaking for both camps. The social networks users are also interested in finding the truth.

Tellingly, there is no much options to answer the question “what is a computer: a boon or a bane?” In fact, thereare only two, but many people, honoring traditions, manage to prevaricate. Instead giving a straight answer, they are responding something like: “From the viewpoint of banal erudition, the computer is personified modification of technogenic irrationality, reflecting our existence, equidistantly remote of quasiquaternionic prototype… ».

Other people express themselves simpler, telling “it’s both or neither” or “it’s a good evil” (alternatively, “It’s a wicked good”). Sometimes the answers “surprise” by their deep philosophical meaning: “It’s a boon to smart, it’s a bane for the weak, it’s a danger for stupid” or “the truth is somewhere in the middle…”

I really liked the answer of the person considering computers from the perspective of Darwinism: “The evolution of the PC was in parallel with the evolution of the people that gave it their way of thinking and instincts, delegating it, a full-fledged member of our society, the power to play, depending on the mood and changes in the network, either demonic or angelic role in human life!”

However, the vast majority of participants answer and explain their choice quite logically.

Thus, they replied that the computer is a bane, and explained this answer by the following arguments:

  • your vision greatly deteriorates from using a computer;
  • it emits electromagnetic waves harmful for human;
  • it causes scoliosis and hypodynamia;
  • it badly affects our mental abilities, especially those of children.

Actually all free sample essays and examples available online are 100% plagiarized! If you need a high-quality customized essay on Computer related topics written from scratch, you can easily hire professional academic writers online:

Click here to read more about custom written essays here!

You will get a 100% non-plagiarized essay about Computers from SmartWritingService company!

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Essay on Computer: A Boon or a Bane

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“ Computer is not a magical device. It possesses no I.Q. or intelligence of its own. Its I.Q. is zero. It has to be told what to perform and in what sequence. Hence only the user can determine what task a computer will perform. A computer can’t take any decision on its own until it is programmed to do so. These are some mechanical deficiencies of the computers, but in addition to these technical flaws, the invention of the computer has adversely affected the human function, the social-economic fabric of the nations. ”

Today hardly any corner of our life is left unaffected by computers. In schools, banks, shops, hospitals, restaurants, post offices, government offices, railway or bus reservation counters, travel companies, and all such utility service departments, we find the computers working everywhere.

For the last two decades, the world seems to have undergone a computer revolution. Initially, computers were designed to solve complicated scientific problems, but nowadays, computers ar,e becoming indispensable day-by-day. Necessity is the mother of invention, the saying holds for computers, as it was initially invented for fast and accurate calculations. The word computer comes from the word “Compute”, that means to calculate. So a computer was normally considered to be a calculating device that can perform arithmetic calculations at an enormous speed and with perfect accuracy. But nowadays more than 80% of the work done by computers is of non-mathematical or non-numerical nature. Hence to define a computer as merely a calculating machine does not hold good in present-day situations. To be correct and more precise, a computer may be defined as a device that operates upon information or data. The fact that computers process data is so fundamental that many people have started calling it a data processor. The name data processor is more comprehensive as it covers not only the computing work but also performs other functions with the data like processing, merging, sorting, printing, etc.

Today the computer has become the cornerstone of our industrial and scientific development. The computers have shrunk the world into a room. In all walks of life from the manufacturing of a small item, to the exploration of the ocean and space, computers are being used extensively. Robots are being used in the study of volcanoes in space research, in medical science, remotely commanded by computers. This omnipotent device has taken entry into such diverse areas as sports, agriculture, medicine, business, space, an ocean that has become an indispensable gadget.

Is the computer a boon or a bane?

No works of art or any great scripture or the Shakespearean tragedies have had so spasmodic effect on human society than the computer, making the present world totally dependant on it. Rightly said by someone that since the existence of humans on earth, it has never encountered anything as complex and ingeniously designed, as a computer. “A computer is a person, unable to walk, but its mind transcends the barriers of space”, retorted Dr. Stephen. It is indeed an example of the excellence of the human mind, which had done wonders and made the creator himself slave to a great extent.

Characteristics of Computers:

SPEED:- Computer is such a fast working device, that can perform in records the amount of work that a human being can’t think of doing it manually. A computer does in one minute, what a man cannot even imagine. A powerful computer is capable of performing about 3 to 4 million simple arithmetic operations per second. While talking about the speed of a computer, the unit of speed is not the seconds or milliseconds but microseconds (10-6) or nanoseconds (10-9) or the picoseconds ( 1 0-12).

ACCURACY:- The accuracy of the computers is unparalleled or unchallengeable. Each calculation is performed with the same accuracy. Errors may occur in a computer, but errors are not due to wrong calculations are done by the computer but due to wrong instructions given by the user.

DILIGENCE:- Unlike human beings, a computer is totally free from monotony, tiredness, lack of concentration, boredom, etc. So a computer can work regularly, for any longer period of time, without creating any error and without feeling boredom or monotonousness. Due to this characteristic, a computer surely scores over human beings in doing routine jobs with accuracy and speed. What a man or any good number of persons can’t do in years altogether with such accuracy and without getting bore, can be done by a computer in minutes.

VERSATILITY:- Versatility is one of the most wonderful characteristics of a computer. At one moment it is preparing electricity bills the next moment it can generate the result of the university and the next moment it can trace an important file. All that is required to give appropriate instruction to the computer. A computer is capable of performing almost any task without getting irritated, provided the task should be reduced to a series of logical steps.

MEMORY:- As soon as a human being acquires new knowledge, the brain subconsciously selects what he feels to be important and worth retaining in his memory and relegates unimportant details to the back of the mind or just thrown that out of memory. While such is not a case with computers. It can store and recall any amount of information because of its secondary storage capability. Every piece of information can be retained as long as desired by the user and can be recalled as and when required. Even after several years, the information recalled will be as accurate as on the day it was fed into the computer.

With such important and wonderful characteristics, computers have ushered in all aspects of business, science, research, and the daily routine of a man. Sitting here one can communicate with one’s kith and kin sitting millions of miles away. A computer is regarded as a work of its own and within. The most complicated medical operations, the most complex scientific calculations, have become very easy with the invention of computers. The discovery of new planets, stars, man’s approach to Saturn, Mars, Moon, and exploration of hitherto hidden secrets of space, has become possible with the help of computers.

Shortcomings: But every invention has its merits and demerits, and so the computer is no exception. A computer is a device having no feelings. It is devoid of emotions and instincts as it is simply a machine, has no soul or heart. The computer can’t make any judgment on its own. The judge Element is based on the instructions given to it by the user. Although man has succeeded in building a memory for the computer no computer possesses the equivalent o a human heart. A computer can’t judge the good or bad effects of its decision.

Moreover, the computer is not a magical device. It processes no I.Q. or intelligence of its own. Its I.Q. is zero. It has to be told what to perform and in what sequence. Hence only the user can determine what task a computer will perform. A computer can’t take any decision on its own unless it is programmed to do so. These are some mechanical deficiencies of the computers, but in addition to these technical flaws, the invention of the computer has adversely affected human life, the social-economic fabric of the nations.

As already mentioned. a computer can perform the work with such accuracy and speed any person can’t perform even in years. The problem of unemployment faced by so many countries including India is further worsened by the use of computers in various offices and departments where one side the requirement of manpower is decreased with the use computers, the IT industry has generated a good number of employment opportunities on the other.

The invention of nuclear weapons, most destructive in nature, warships, space ships have been made possible with the invention of computers. Had there been no computers, the world of today would not have been at the climax of destruction. The push of one button can destroy any country and is sufficient to destroy millions and billions of innocent people. Today the so-called developed countries are using computers, busy inventing newer technology of modern warfare. The use of missiles, dropping of nuclear bombs, destroying the basic amenities, the communication system of any nation has become so easy that they have started using them for the aggrandizement of their imperialistic motives.

Yes, indeed, the computers on the one side helped mankind to solve many crucial problems, on the other side, it has put the world on the verge of destruction. Despite that, it is not at all the fault of the computers themselves. It is a machine that obeys the orders of the user, therefore, the fault lies with the user, not with the computers.

Summarily computers have solved the most challenging problems like energy crisis, cancer research, water purification, and helped man to explore space, ocean, and other hidden secrets of the universe. The computer is a boon or a bane depends, on its use. If used for the benefits of mankind it is a boon, if used for the evil purpose. it is a bane. Remember the story of Alladin and genie, genie obeys the order of Alladin, whether wrong or right, good or bad, in the same way, the computer obeys the orders and instructions of its user.

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Technology: A Boon or a Bane? [Essay Question]

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Essay on Computer and its Uses for School Students and Children

500+ words essay on computer.

In this essay on computer, we are going to discuss some useful things about computers. The modern-day computer has become an important part of our daily life. Also, their usage has increased much fold during the last decade. Nowadays, they use the computer in every office whether private or government. Mankind is using computers for over many decades now. Also, they are used in many fields like agriculture, designing, machinery making, defense and many more. Above all, they have revolutionized the whole world.

essay on computer

History of Computers

It is very difficult to find the exact origin of computers. But according to some experts computer exists at the time of world war-II. Also, at that time they were used for keeping data. But, it was for only government use and not for public use. Above all, in the beginning, the computer was a very large and heavy machine.

Working of a Computer 

The computer runs on a three-step cycle namely input, process, and output. Also, the computer follows this cycle in every process it was asked to do. In simple words, the process can be explained in this way. The data which we feed into the computer is input, the work CPU do is process and the result which the computer give is output.

Components and Types of Computer

The simple computer basically consists of CPU, monitor, mouse, and keyboard . Also, there are hundreds of other computer parts that can be attached to it. These other parts include a printer, laser pen, scanner , etc.

The computer is categorized into many different types like supercomputers, mainframes, personal computers (desktop), PDAs, laptop, etc. The mobile phone is also a type of computer because it fulfills all the criteria of being a computer.

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Uses of Computer in Various Fields

As the usage of computer increased it became a necessity for almost every field to use computers for their operations. Also, they have made working and sorting things easier. Below we are mentioning some of the important fields that use a computer in their daily operation.

Medical Field

They use computers to diagnose diseases, run tests and for finding the cure for deadly diseases . Also, they are able to find a cure for many diseases because of computers.

Whether it’s scientific research, space research or any social research computers help in all of them. Also, due to them, we are able to keep a check on the environment , space, and society. Space research helped us to explore the galaxies. While scientific research has helped us to locate resources and various other useful resources from the earth.

For any country, his defence is most important for the safety and security of its people. Also, computer in this field helps the country’s security agencies to detect a threat which can be harmful in the future. Above all the defense industry use them to keep surveillance on our enemy.

Threats from a Computer

Computers have become a necessity also, they have become a threat too. This is due to hackers who steal your private data and leak them on internet. Also, anyone can access this data. Apart from that, there are other threats like viruses, spams, bug and many other problems.

computer boon or bane essay in english

The computer is a very important machine that has become a useful part of our life. Also, the computers have twin-faces on one side it’s a boon and on the other side, it’s a bane. Its uses completely depend upon you. Apart from that, a day in the future will come when human civilization won’t be able to survive without computers as we depend on them too much. Till now it is a great discovery of mankind that has helped in saving thousands and millions of lives.

Frequently Asked Questions on Computer

Q.1  What is a computer?

A.1 A computer is an electronic device or machine that makes our work easier. Also, they help us in many ways.

Q.2 Mention various fields where computers are used?

A.2  Computers are majorly used in defense, medicine, and for research purposes.

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Fill in the form below and receive news in your email box, boon or a bane: definition, meaning and origin.

The phrase "boon or a bane" represents a balance or trade-off, typically when discussing the pros and cons of a situation, decision, or technology. You may use it in discussions where the benefits (boon) and disadvantages (bane) are weighed against each other.

"Boon or a bane" means to weigh the positive and negative aspects of something to understand whether it's beneficial or detrimental overall.

What Does "Boon or a Bane" Mean?

The key meaning of the phrase is that something has the potential to be either beneficial or detrimental. Whether it acts as a boon or bane depends on how it is used or applied in a given set of circumstances. This suggests that the object or idea in question has two sides, making it unclear if it's good or bad.

Let's delve into its core meanings and usage:

  • It emphasizes the struggle to determine if something is a positive or negative influence.
  • It is common in debates and discussions, particularly those about social issues, technology, and development.
  • It expresses the pros and cons associated with a situation or decision.

Where Does "Boon or a Bane" Come From?

The phrase "boon or a bane" combines two old English words:

  • "boon," meaning a favor or benefit
  • "bane," meaning a cause of death, ruin, or harm

The phrase encapsulates the concept of weighing advantages against disadvantages by juxtaposing these contrasting words.

Historical Example

"Are men in such that may be asked, and only to give because of the asking, without regarding whether it be a boon or a bane?" - Historical Sketches of Statesmen who Flourished in the Time of George III, 1839

10 Examples of "Boon or a Bane" in Sentences

Here are some examples of using the phrase in sentences:

  • Smartphones have changed the way we live, but are they a boon or a bane ?
  • They did it on my behalf , but I'm not sure if it's a boon or a bane .
  • Is the Internet of Things a boon or a bane for privacy?
  • What's the catch with this offer? Is it a boon or a bane ?
  • The thematic approach might be a boon or a bane , depending on the audience.
  • For some, technology in the classroom is a boon; for others, a bane .
  • On a side note , I can't decide if this change is a boon or a bane .
  • Home offices: boon or a bane for work-life balance?
  • When the new policy goes into effect , it might be a boon or a bane for us.
  • Virtual reality: boon or bane for real human interactions?

Examples of "Boon or a Bane" in Pop Culture

The phrase "boon or a bane" often appears in debates and discussions, particularly on topics related to technology, progress, and societal change.

Let's look at some examples:

  • The article "Colorizing film classics; a boon or a bane?"  published in The New York Times on August 5, 1986, discusses the debate surrounding the practice of colorizing classic films.
  • A quote from the 2009 book Whole Green Catalog by Michael W. Robbins: "Your kitchen scraps can be a boon or a bane to the environment, depending on how you dispose of them."
  • A quote from the book Technology in a Changing World: "With the use of email becoming an indispensable part of lives in the 21st century, the question of whether it is a boon or a bane remains to be answered."

Other/Different Ways to Say "Boon or a Bane"

There are several alternative expressions that convey a similar meaning to "boon or a bane."

Some of these include:

  • Pros and cons
  • Blessing or curse
  • Positive or negative
  • Good or bad
  • Help or hindrance
  • Advantage or disadvantage
  • Asset or liability
  • Good thing or bad thing

You can use these alternatives interchangeably depending on the context and the nature of the debate.

10 Frequently Asked Questions About "Boon or a Bane":

  • What does "boon or a bane" mean?
"Boon or a bane" refers to the dilemma of determining whether something is good or bad, beneficial or harmful. It's often used when debating the merits and drawbacks of a particular issue or concept.
  • How can I use "boon or a bane" in a sentence?
You can use "boon or a bane" when discussing or writing about a topic that has both positive and negative aspects. For instance, "The rise of artificial intelligence: boon or a bane?"
  • Where does the idiom "boon or a bane" come from?
The phrase "boon or a bane" combines two old English words, "boon" meaning a favor or benefit, and "bane" meaning a cause of death or ruin.
  • Does the phrase have a negative connotation?
No, the phrase itself is neutral. It suggests a balance between positive and negative factors.
  • Is the phrase common in formal discussions?
Yes, "boon or a bane" is frequently used in formal discussions, debates, and academic writings, especially when discussing the impacts of technology, progress, or societal changes.
  • Is it applicable in everyday conversation?
Yes, it can be used in everyday conversation when discussing advantages and disadvantages of any situation, choice, or decision.
  • Can one use it in a literary context?
Yes, it can be used in a literary context to create a sense of conflict or dilemma.
  • What's the difference between "boon or a bane" and "pros and cons"?
"Boon or a bane" and "pros and cons" both refer to the positive and negative aspects of a situation. However, "boon or a bane" has a more dramatic tone and is often used when the stakes are higher.
  • Is it necessary for the boon and bane to be equally weighted?
No, the weight of the boon and the bane may vary depending on the specific context.
  • Can one use the phrase in a professional context?
Yes, "boon or a bane" is often used in professional contexts to discuss the potential benefits and drawbacks of a decision, strategy, or technological advancement.

Final Thoughts About "Boon or a Bane"

The idiom "boon or a bane" represents the duality of impacts, outcomes, or effects. It is used to discuss the positives and negatives of a specific concept, situation, or event, often stirring intriguing debates and discussions.

Here's a quick recap:

  • It weighs the positive and negative aspects of a concept, situation, or event.
  • Its origin is traced back to Old English, making it a long-standing part of the English language.
  • It is appropriate in various contexts and situations, reflecting its versatility and applicability.

Whether it's about technological advancements or lifestyle changes, if it's a "boon or a bane," you know it's a topic worth pondering. The phrase invites us to delve deeper, analyze thoroughly, and weigh the positives against the negatives.

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English Summary

100 Words Essay On Technology Boon Or Bane In English

Technology can be considered both a boon and a bane. On one hand, technology has made our lives more convenient and efficient, from instant communication to online shopping and remote work. It has also revolutionized industries such as healthcare, education, and entertainment.

On the other hand, technology can also have negative effects, such as addiction to social media, loss of privacy, and can be harmful to the environment and human health if not used responsibly.

In conclusion, while technology has undoubtedly improved our lives in many ways, it is essential to use technology responsibly and be aware of its potential negative impacts.

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Essay on Technology – A Boon or Bane for Students

Essay on Technology – A Boon or Bane for Students

500+ Words Essay on Technology for Students

In this technology essay, we are going to discuss what technology is, what are its uses, and also what technology can do? First of all, technology refers to the use of technical and scientific knowledge to create, monitor, and design machinery. Also, technology helps in making other goods that aid mankind.

Essay on Technology – A Boon or Bane?

Experts are debating this topic for years. Also, the technology covered a long way to make human life easier but the negative aspect of it can’t be ignored. Over the years technological advancement has caused a severe rise in pollution. Also, pollution has become a major cause of many health issues. Besides, it has cut off people from society rather than connecting them. Above all, it has taken away many jobs from the worker’s class.

The familiarity between Technology and Science

As they are completely different fields they are interdependent. Also, it is due to the scientific contribution we can create innovation and build new technological tools. Apart from that, the research conducted in laboratories contributes a lot to the development of technologies. On the other hand, technology extends the agenda of science.

Vital Part of our Life

Regularly evolving technology has become an important part of our lives. Also, newer technologies are taking the market by storm and people are getting used to them in no time. Above all, technological advancement has led to the growth and development of nations.

Negative Aspect of Technology

Although technology is a good thing, everything has two sides. Technology also has two sides one is good and the other is bad. Here are some negative aspects of technology that we are going to discuss.

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With new technology industrialization increases which gives birth to many pollutions like air, water, soil, and noise. Also, they cause many health-related issues in animals, birds, and human beings.

Exhaustion of Natural Resources

New technology requires new resources for which the balance is disturbed. Eventually, this will lead to the over-exploitation of natural resources which ultimately disturbs the balance of nature.

Unemployment

A single machine can replace many workers. Also, machines can do work at a constant pace for several hours or days without stopping. Due to this, many workers lost their job which ultimately increases unemployment.

Types of Technology

Generally, we judge technology on the same scale but in reality, technology is divided into various types. This includes information technology, industrial technology, architectural technology, creative technology, and many more. Let’s discuss these technologies in brief.

Industrial Technology

This technology organizes engineering and manufacturing technology for the manufacturing of machines. Also, this makes the production process easier and more convenient.

Creative Technology

This process includes art, advertising, and product design which are made with the help of software. Also, it comprises 3D printers, virtual reality, computer graphics, and other wearable technologies.

Information Technology

This technology involves the use of telecommunication and computer to send, receive and store information. The Internet is the best example of Information technology.

Today, everything we use in our daily life is a gift of technology and without which we cannot imagine our lives. Also, we cannot refuse the facts that it has caused severe damage to our surroundings.

FAQs on Essay on Technology

Q.1 what is information technology.

A – It is a form of technology that uses telecommunication and computer systems for study. Also, they send, retrieve, and store data.

Q.2 Is technology harmful to humans?

 A – No, technology is not harmful to human beings until it is used properly. But, misuse of technology can be harmful and deadly.

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computer boon or bane essay in english

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Article on COMPUTERS : A BOON OR A BANE? UP Board Solution of English NCERT Syllabus Essay and Article Writing

Article on COMPUTERS : A BOON OR A BANE? UP Board Solution of English NCERT Syllabus Essay and Article Writing

Computers have become a rage with children and play a major role in today’s age. However, one must understand its function as a major distraction. Write an article highlighting the role of computers while also pointing out the hazards their excessive use can cause. You are Aditya/Aditi.

Aricle on COMPUTERS : A BOON OR A BANE?

– By Kusum Kumari

Some people say that the computer is one of the greatest inventions of humankind. However, other people think that computers make their life more stressful. There is no denying that computers have become an integral part of human life. Almost every profession is benefits from computers. .

Children, have been reaping benefits from the constant use of computers. It helps them in their homework, projects, assignments, etc. It not only provides information on a variety of subjects but also links corners of the world.

On the other hand, excessive use of computers has its own set of disadvantages. Too much use of computers can cause deterioration of vision. Spending more time on computers, harms physical health, which might result in being overweight and in problems of the spine.

The major problem which is affecting children nowadays is their addiction to computers, the result of which is their distraction from studies.

If the time spent on the computer is regulated then it can surely be used to make our work easier. Thus, if used in the right way computers will only change life for the better.

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Artificial Intelligence – Boon or Bane

Artificial Intelligence is a branch of computer science that deals with the development of machines that can perform tasks that require human intelligence like speech recognition, language translation, and decision making. Artificial Intelligence is said to be the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think and perform tasks like humans. There are various real-life applications of Artificial Intelligence they are as follows:

1. Gaming: In strategic games like Chess the machine is programmed such that it can generate its moves and also study the moves of its opponents and decide which movie to be made next.

2. Speech Recognition: Some systems can recognize the language spoken by humans and respond in the same way by grasping the accent, grammar, etc. These types of speech recognition systems are present in our smartphones and home devices. Some examples of speech recognition systems are Google Now, Google Assistant, and Amazon Alexa.

3. Handwriting Recognition: Handwriting Text Recognition system in the machine enables it to read handwriting and transform into editable text.

4. Robotics: Robotics is a branch of science and engineering which deals with construction, design, and programming of robots. Robots are the most sophisticated and complex inventions of humans to date. Robots are capable of carrying out a series of a complex tasks. They are efficient in their tasks as they can multitask as well and save time doing so. They have vast memory space and can adjust to their environment.

With the growth in AI, there is a debate that whether AI is a boon or a bane. Some factors support AI to be a boon as well as a bane.

Factors that support AI to be a Boon:

  • Ease in Availability: Machines do not require refreshment like humans and can work for a longer period. They are capable of performing tasks and work continuously and produce quality output.
  • Daily Usage: Currently the most widely used machine in our daily life is a smartphone, which results knowingly and unknowingly using the benefits of AI. A few examples that demonstrate the use of AI in our daily life are speech recognition system used in our search engine on our smartphones, GPS used for navigation and fingerprint recognition and face recognition system in our smartphone for security.
  • Performing Complex Tasks: For a human performing tedious task is time-consuming. AI algorithms are developed to perform complex tasks. Machines are capable of performing multiple tasks at a particular period and function faster than humans.
  • Virtual Assistants: Virtual assistants communicate with various users, thus resulting in less use of manpower. As machines do not have emotions they perform more logically and efficiently and thus arrive at the right decision.

AI as a Bane:

  • Incurs High Cost: With the use of AI the productivity enhances and efficient results are obtained but huge costs are incurred in the process as machines are very complex and complicated in their training. And machines require regular maintenance at a particular point of time thus resulting in bigger costs to incur.
  • Lack of Experience: Humans depend upon their experience and perform accordingly in the future whereas do not have experience. Machines act according to the algorithm that is set for its functioning. They do not react with the environment and this what creates the difference between machines and humans.
  • Unemployment: The growing concern in the global economy today is that will AI completely take over human jobs. To enhance the productivity enterprises are adopting AI-based technologies that are now replacing human jobs and making us more dependent on machines. This would lead to a major loss in the ability of thinking and result in creativity and ideas.

AI will grow further in the future and shape our lives. It has its advantages and disadvantages. It has the factors that support it be a boon or bane. But still, there is a debate whether it will be a boon or a bane. We’ll come to know in the future whether it proves to be boon or bane.

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Essay on Internet Boon or Bane

Read a short essay on internet in English. How internet changed the world within few years. Essay on advantages and disadvantage of internet in 300 words.

pte exam preparation Essay on Internet

The internet sometimes called simply ‘the net’, is a global system of interconnected computer networks that link several billion devices worldwide. It is an international network of network that consists of millions of private, public, academic business and government pockets switched network, linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless and optical networking technologies. The internet carers an ample range of information resources and services, such as application of worldwide web (www), the infrastructure to support email, peer to peer networks for file sharing and telephony.

The Internet has made our world a small place, by breaking all men made barriers. Internet has become one stop solution whether it’s entertainment, social networking, service or obtaining information. It has also made it possible to work from home or work when you travel.

The internet boon in India has become one of the major contributions of the economic growth of the country. The use of internet in India has increased to a great over the years. Internet boon has equally affected the metros, villages, education system. As mentioned earlier internet has become one stop solution especially in terms of globalisation, communication, news, marketing etc. The world wide web has gathered the entire world into small screen. You cannot yourself with the whole world and share your ideas by posting videos or blogs.

There are a number of IDs like Gmail, Yahoo mail, Rediff and many more though which you can send messages. Today the majority of people offer shopping online because it is a simple method of shopping. Today internet marketing has gained so much popularity among people and especially businessmen. Today all business owners promote their business online.

However, the internet has some setbacks too, which is a threat to the whole world. Some people are getting addicted to the internet and thus causing the problem to their health. People are seen wasting  alot of time surfing the internet. Internet hackers are creating havoc in the world of business and communication. It has given rise to many problems. Internet is like two sides of the coin. There is no doubt internet has made our life easy but it also depends on us how we use it.

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Essay on Artificial Intelligence – a boon or bane

We are living in an era of rapid technological advancement, where artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the way we live and work. You may have heard of popular AI models like ChatGPT, MidJourney, and others that have made headlines in the year 2023 for their impressive capabilities, such as text-to-speech, text-to-image, and text-to-video.

Indeed, thousands of people have lost their jobs due to the proliferation of chatbots and other AI-powered systems. This has led to a debate over whether AI is a boon or a bane for society. In this essay, we will explore both sides of this issue and examine the potential benefits and drawbacks of AI.

Students must stay exam-ready by reading these types of essays based on current affairs .

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a rapidly growing field that is revolutionizing the way we live, work, and communicate. AI is a type of technology that is designed to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as understanding natural language, recognizing images, and making decisions. Some people believe that AI is a boon, while others believe it is a bane. In this essay, we will explore both sides of the argument.

On the one hand, AI can be seen as a boon. AI has the potential to revolutionize industries such as healthcare, education, and transportation. In healthcare, AI can help doctors diagnose diseases more accurately and quickly. In education, AI can personalize learning experiences for each student based on their strengths and weaknesses. In transportation, AI can help reduce traffic accidents and congestion by enabling self-driving cars.

AI can also make our lives more convenient. Virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa can help us manage our schedules, answer questions, and control our home devices with just our voice. AI-powered chatbots can help businesses provide better customer service by answering frequently asked questions and resolving issues more quickly.

On the other hand, AI can also be seen as a bane. One of the main concerns about AI is that it could potentially take over jobs that are currently done by humans. For example, self-driving cars could eliminate the need for taxi drivers and truck drivers. AI-powered robots could replace workers in factories and warehouses. This could lead to job losses and economic instability.

Another concern is that AI could be used for malicious purposes. AI could be used to create fake news and spread disinformation. It could also be used to create autonomous weapons that could make decisions without human intervention.

In conclusion, AI is a complex and multifaceted technology that can be both a boon and a bane. While AI has the potential to revolutionize industries, improve our lives, and make our world a better place, we must also be mindful of the potential risks and challenges associated with this technology. As we continue to develop and integrate AI into our lives, it is important that we carefully consider the ethical implications and strive to create a future where AI serves the common good.

If you were an ex-employee of Google, Meta, Alphabet or Microsoft, you would have surely termed Artificial intelligence a bane. On the other hand, for a graphic designer who has started earning a handsome amount of money with the help of Mid journey, artificial intelligence is no less than a boon or blessing for him.

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Essay on AI Boon Or Bane

Students are often asked to write an essay on AI Boon Or Bane in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on AI Boon Or Bane

Introduction to ai.

Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is a modern technology that makes machines think like humans. It allows computers to learn, understand, and do tasks that usually need human intelligence. This includes things like recognizing speech, learning, planning, and problem-solving.

AI as a Boon

AI is a boon because it makes our life easier. It can do tasks quickly and accurately. For instance, AI in medical science can help doctors diagnose diseases. AI in education can help students learn better. It can even help in managing traffic and predicting weather.

AI as a Bane

On the other hand, AI can also be a bane. It can lead to job loss as machines replace humans. It might also lead to privacy issues as AI can collect and use personal data. There’s also a risk of machines becoming too powerful.

In conclusion, AI can be both a boon and a bane. It depends on how we use it. If used responsibly, AI can be a great tool for progress. But if misused, it can also cause problems. So, it’s important to use AI wisely.

250 Words Essay on AI Boon Or Bane

Introduction.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a hot topic these days. It is the science of making machines that can think and learn like humans. Some people see it as a blessing, while others see it as a curse. Let’s look at both sides of the coin.

AI – A Boon

AI is a boon because it can do many things faster and better than humans. It can help doctors diagnose diseases, help farmers grow better crops, and even help us find information on the internet. It can also do jobs that are too dangerous for humans, like defusing bombs or exploring space.

AI – A Bane

On the other side, AI can also be a bane. It can take away jobs from people because machines can work 24/7 without getting tired. It can also be used for bad things, like spying on people or creating fake news. Plus, if AI machines become too smart, they might start making decisions without human input, which could be dangerous.

In the end, whether AI is a boon or a bane depends on how we use it. If we use it to help people and make the world a better place, it can be a boon. But if we use it to harm others or to replace humans, it can be a bane. So, it’s up to us to make sure we use AI in the right way.

500 Words Essay on AI Boon Or Bane

Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is a term you might have heard often. It is a type of computer science that allows machines to act and think like humans. AI can do many things, like recognizing speech, learning, planning, and problem-solving. It is an exciting field, but it also brings up many questions. Is AI a boon or a bane? Let’s explore this.

AI is a boon in many ways. Firstly, it can help us do tasks faster and more accurately. For example, AI can process and analyze large amounts of data in seconds. This helps businesses make better decisions and improve their services.

Secondly, AI can do jobs that are dangerous or difficult for humans. Robots can work in harsh environments, like deep-sea exploration or space missions. They can also do repetitive tasks without getting bored or tired.

Thirdly, AI can help in areas like healthcare and education. AI-powered systems can diagnose diseases, suggest treatments, and even help with surgeries. In education, AI can provide personalized learning experiences based on a student’s needs.

Despite the benefits, AI also has potential downsides. One issue is job losses. As machines become smarter, they might replace humans in many jobs. This could lead to unemployment and social problems.

Another worry is about privacy and security. AI systems can collect and analyze a lot of personal data. This could be misused and lead to privacy breaches.

Lastly, there is a fear that AI might become too powerful. If machines become smarter than humans, they might start making decisions on their own. This could lead to unpredictable and possibly dangerous situations.

So, is AI a boon or a bane? It’s not a simple answer. AI has the potential to bring many benefits. It can help us do tasks better, faster, and safer. But it also has potential risks, like job losses, privacy issues, and the fear of machines becoming too powerful.

We need to find a balance. We should embrace the benefits of AI, but also be aware of the risks. We need to create rules and safeguards to ensure that AI is used in a way that benefits everyone. Only then can we make sure that AI is more of a boon than a bane.

In conclusion, AI is like a tool. It’s how we use it that determines whether it’s a boon or a bane. We have the power to shape the future of AI, and we should use it wisely.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

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Essay, Paragraph, Speech on “Mobile Phone – A Boon or Bane” Complete English Essay for Class 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, Graduation classes.

Mobile Phone – A Boon or Bane

The mobile phone first appeared in India sometime in the nineties. It was a bulky box quite similar to the landlines we still use today. It had an equally big antenna  and was heavy and cumbersome to carry. That was just the beginning. Very soon they were all over the place. With the alarming speed at which they shrunk in size, these pocket sized wonders, sure packed a punch. The mobiles of today are gizmos that can do multiple functions. They can send text messages, they can send and receive video messages and they have a host of facilities that somehow snake the – talk on the move” function seem redundant. As is the case with every invention, with time the prices crashed and today these little things are available for as less as five hundred Indian rupees. In India almost every one, everywhere, seems to have one. The vegetable vendor, the bus conductor, students, the office goers, almost everybody irrespective of economic status has a cell phone. This little midget has taken the world by storm.

Thanks to the cell phone everybody is available almost all of the time. It’s a boon for people who do a lot of field work. It means the offices they work for can keep in touch with them. Also in cases of emergency, like you are stuck in a road jam or in some catastrophe, all you have to do is whip out your phone and call for help or call your family to put their minds at ease. You can text one message to several people at the same time. Through your cell you can go online and check your email. You can playgames on your cell phone to kill time, not the best of uses, but a use nonetheless. You can even listen to music on the cell, watch video clippings and if you are of the artistic bend and wish to click a spontaneous photograph, viola!! One click on the cell phone and you are done.

Everywhere you go, you are swarmed by people glued to their cell phones. It has reached the proportions where often one sees a young couple walking down the beach hand in hand; both their other hands holding on to their individual cells talking to other people. It means that people are talking a lot more than they used to for sure. It means that when you visit a friend for dinner most ofthe time everybody is busy on their individual cells. It also means that people drive recklessly-their one ear and one hand occupied by the cell. However, it is the total invasion of privacy which cell phones have caused which is scary. People are recording videos of other people without their knowledge and then selling them. Advertising through text messages has become such a nuisance that you have your cell phone beeping almost all the time. In case of an emergency, often, the network is jammed thanks to the indiscriminate use of cell phones. Several health risks have been projected by the misuse of the cell phone; one of them being the decreased count of sperm in men due to prolonged use. Kids have been caught storing answers on the cell phone to use during examinations.

What use is technology if it makes us restless, impatient and deprives us of the moments that really matter-a cup of hot tea had against the backdrop of the pitter patter of the rain, a walk on the beach with a loved one. What use is it if it robs us of the joy of taking a walk down the beach listening to the sound of waves? With every technology, along with its uses come the misuses and it is the user’s responsibility to use technology with caution.

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Large pipes lie on a dirt pathway, disappearing into the distance under a sky of patchy clouds.

Is Guyana’s Oil a Blessing or a Curse?

More than any single country, Guyana demonstrates the struggle between the consequences of climate change and the lure of the oil economy.

With the discovery of offshore oil, Guyana is now building a natural gas pipeline to bring the byproducts of oil production to a planned energy plant. Credit...

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By Gaiutra Bahadur

Photographs by Keisha Scarville

  • March 30, 2024

Basjit Mahabir won’t let me in.

I’m trying to persuade Mr. Mahabir to open the padlocked gate of the Wales Estate, where he guards the ramshackle remains of a factory surrounded by miles of fallow sugar cane fields. The growing and grinding of sugar on this plantation about 10 miles from Georgetown, Guyana’s capital, ended seven years ago, and parts of the complex, its weathered zinc walls the color of rust, have been sold for scrap.

I plead my case. “I lived here when I was a little girl,” I say. “My father used to manage the field lab.” Mr. Mahabir is friendly, but firm. I’m not getting in.

The ruins are the vestiges of a sugar industry that, after enriching British colonizers for centuries, was the measure of the nation’s wealth when it achieved independence.

Now the estate is slated to become part of Guyana’s latest boom, an oil rush that is reshaping the country’s future. This nation that lies off the beaten track, population 800,000, is at the forefront of a global paradox: Even as the world pledges to transition away from fossil fuels , developing countries have many short-term incentives to double down on them.

Before oil, outsiders mostly came to Guyana for eco-tourism, lured by rainforests that cover 87 percent of its land. In 2009, the effort to combat global warming turned this into a new kind of currency when Guyana sold carbon credits totaling $250 million, essentially promising to keep that carbon stored in trees. Guyana’s leadership was praised for this planet-saving effort.

Six years later, Exxon Mobil discovered a bounty of oil under Guyana’s coastal waters. Soon the company and its consortium partners, Hess and the Chinese National Offshore Oil Corporation, began drilling with uncommon speed. The oil, now burned mostly in Europe, is enabling more global emissions — and producing colossal wealth.

The find is projected to become Exxon Mobil’s biggest revenue source by decade’s end. The deal that made it possible — and which gave Exxon Mobil the bulk of the proceeds — has been a point of public outcry and even a lawsuit, with a seeming consensus that Guyana got the short end of the stick. But the deal has nonetheless generated $3.5 billion so far for the country, more money than it has ever seen, significantly more than it gained from conserving trees. It’s enough to chart a new destiny.

The government has decided to pursue that destiny by investing even further in fossil fuels. Most of the oil windfall available in its treasury is going to construct roads and other infrastructure, most notably a 152-mile pipeline to carry ashore natural gas, released while extracting oil from Exxon Mobil’s fields, to generate electricity.

The pipeline will snake across the Wales Estate, carrying the gas to a proposed power plant and to a second plant that will use the byproducts to potentially produce cooking gas and fertilizer. With a price tag of more than $2 billion, it’s the most expensive public infrastructure project in the country’s history. The hope is that with a predictable, plentiful supply of cheap energy, the country can develop economically.

At the same time, climate change laps at Guyana’s shores; much of Georgetown is projected to be underwater by 2030.

computer boon or bane essay in english

Countries like Guyana are caught in a perfect storm where the consequences for extracting fossil fuels collide with the incentives to do so. Unlike wealthy countries, they aren’t responsible for most of the carbon emissions that now threaten the planet. “We’re obviously talking about developing countries here, and if there’s so much social and economic development that still needs to happen, then it’s hard to actually demand a complete ban on fossil fuels,” says Maria Antonia Tigre, a director at the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University. Still, she insists, “we’re in a moment in the climate crisis where no one can get a pass.”

This struggle between the existential threats of climate change and the material gains dangled by fossil fuels bedevils rich countries, too. The International Energy Agency predicts that oil demand will peak in five years as big economies transition to renewable sources. But it is a transition of indeterminate length, and in the meantime, the Biden administration approved drilling in the Alaska wilderness just last year, and the United States is producing more oil than ever in its history. A country like Guyana, with an emerging economy, has even more reason to jump at temptation.

The country has already been transformed. Next to its famously elegant but decaying colonial architecture, new houses, hotels, malls, gyms and offices of concrete and glass crop up constantly. Trucks carrying quartz sand for all this construction judder along the highways. While nearly half of Guyanese still live below the poverty line, the country is bustling with possibility, and newcomers arrive from around the world. During a five-month stay there, I met a logistics manager from Sri Lanka, a nightclub singer from Cuba, a Briton developing a shrimp farm and a Nigerian security guard who joked that a sure sign that Guyana had become a hustler’s paradise was that he was there.

As I survey the stranded assets of the sugar works on the Wales Estate, imagining the steel pipes to come, the gleaming future Guyana’s government promises feels haunted by its past as a colony cursed by its resources. The potential for the petroleum boom to implode is in plain sight next door, where Venezuela — which has recently resurrected old claims to much of Guyana’s territory — is a mess of corruption, authoritarian rule and economic volatility.

For centuries, foreign powers set the terms for this sliver of South America on the Atlantic Ocean. The British, who first took possession in 1796, treated the colony as a vast sugar factory. They trafficked enslaved Africans to labor on the plantations and then, after abolition, found a brutally effective substitute by contracting indentured servants, mainly from India. Mr. Mahabir, who worked cutting cane for most of his life, is descended from those indentured workers, as am I.

Fifty-seven years ago, the country shook off its imperial shackles, but genuine democracy took more time. On the eve of independence, foreign meddling installed a leader who swiftly became a dictator. Tensions between citizens of African and Indian descent, encouraged under colonialism, turned violent at independence and set off a bitter contest for governing supremacy that continues to this day. Indigenous groups have been courted by both sides in this political and ethnic rivalry.

It wasn’t until the early 1990s that Guyana held its first free and fair elections. The moment was full of possibility. The institutions of democracy, such as an independent judiciary, began to emerge. And the legislature passed a series of robust environmental laws.

Now that Exxon Mobil has arrived to extract a new resource, some supporters of democracy and the environment see those protections as endangered. They criticize the fossil-fuel giant, with global revenue 10 times the size of Guyana’s gross domestic product, as a new kind of colonizer and have sued their government to press it to enforce its laws and regulations. The judge in one of those cases has rebuked the country’s Environmental Protection Agency as being “submissive” toward the oil industry.

Addressing some of these activists at a recent public hearing, Vickram Bharrat, the minister of natural resources, defended the government’s oversight of oil and gas. “There’s no evidence of bias toward any multinational corporations,” he said. Exxon Mobil, in an emailed statement, said its work on the natural gas project would “help provide lower-emissions, reliable, gas-powered electricity to Guyanese consumers.”

The world is at a critical juncture, and Guyana sits at the intersection. The country of my birth is a tiny speck on the planet, but the discovery of oil there has cracked open questions of giant significance. How can wealthy countries be held to account for their promises to move away from fossil fuels? Can the institutions of a fragile democracy keep large corporations in check? And what kind of future is Guyana promising its citizens as it places bets on commodities that much of the world is vowing to make obsolete?

Along a sandy beach, people take photographs with their phones alongside large rocks, one painted with a smiley face.

A land of new possibilities

Oil has created a Guyana with pumpkin spice lattes. The first Starbucks store appeared outside the capital last year; it was such a big deal that the president and the American ambassador attended the opening. People still “lime” — hang out — with local Carib beer and boomboxes on the storied sea wall, but those with the cash can now go for karaoke and fancy cocktails at a new Hard Rock Cafe.

The influx of wealth has introduced new tensions along economic lines in an already racially divided country. Hyperinflation has made fish, vegetables and other staples costlier, and many Guyanese feel priced out of pleasures in their own country. A new rooftop restaurant, described to me as “pizza for Guyana’s 1 percent” by its consultant chef from Brooklyn, set off a backlash on social media for serving a cut of beef that costs $335, as much as a security guard in the capital earns in a month.

This aspirational consumerist playground is grafted onto a ragged infrastructure. Lexus S.U.V.s cruise new highways but must still gingerly wade through knee-deep floods in Georgetown when it rains, thanks to bad drainage. Electricity, the subject of much teeth-sucking and dark humor, is expensive and erratic. It’s also dirty, powered by heavy fuel, a tarlike residue from refining oil. In 2023, 96 blackouts halted activity across the country for an average of one hour each. A growing number of air-conditioners taxing aging generators are partly to blame, but the system has been tripped up by weeds entangling transmission lines, backhoes hitting power poles and once, infamously, a rat.

The country’s larger companies — makers of El Dorado rum, timber producers — generate their own electricity outside the power grid. Small companies, however, don’t have that option. This year, the Inter-American Development Bank cited electrical outages as a major obstacle to doing business in Guyana.

The government’s investment in a natural gas pipeline and power plant offers the prospect of steady and affordable power. The gas, a byproduct of Exxon Mobil’s drilling, tends not to be commercialized and is often flared off as waste, emitting greenhouse gases in the process. But at the government’s request, Exxon Mobil and its consortium partners agreed to send some of the natural gas to the Wales site. The consortium is supposed to supply it without cost, but no official sales agreement has been made public yet.

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At international conferences, rich countries have pledged to help poorer, lower-emitting ones to raise their living standards sustainably with renewable energy, but the money has fallen short . Natural gas is cleaner than the heavy fuel Guyana now uses, and the country’s leaders claim that it will serve as an eventual bridge to renewable energy. The fact that it’s not as clean as solar or other renewable sources seems, to some local manufacturers, beside the point because the status quo is so challenging.

During blackouts, Upasna Mudlier, who runs Denmor Garments, a textile company that makes uniforms, fire safety jackets and lingerie, has to send home the two dozen seamstresses she employs. That means a big hit in productivity. A chemist in her late 30s, she inherited the company from her father. Ms. Mudlier was nervous about networking in the burly crush of the male-dominated local business elite, but she nonetheless attended an event hosted by a business development center funded by Exxon Mobil. She leaned in, and it paid off: She won a contract to make a thousand coveralls for workers building an oil production vessel headed for Guyana’s waters.

It was a bright spot nonetheless dimmed by her electric bill. An astounding 40 percent of her operating budget goes to paying for power. Ms. Mudlier is eager for the natural gas plant. Cheaper, reliable energy could allow her to price her products to compete internationally.

Textiles are a tiny niche in Guyana, but hers is the kind of manufacturing that experts say Guyana needs to avoid becoming a petroleum state. Ms. Mudlier agrees with the government’s messaging on the gas project. “It will create more jobs for people and bring more investments into our country and more diversity to our economy,” she said.

Widespread anxiety that the best new jobs would go to foreigners led to a law that sets quotas for oil and gas companies to hire and contract with locals. Komal Singh, a construction magnate in his mid-50s, has benefited from the law. Mr. Singh, who directs an influential government advisory body on business policy, works as a joint partner with international companies building the Wales pipeline and treating toxic waste from offshore oil production.

“We say to them, ‘It’s you, me and Guyanese,’” he told me. “If Guyanese are not part of the show, end of conversation.”

Guyana has lost a greater share of its people than any other country, with two in five people born there living abroad. So the oil boom and the local partner requirement have set off something of a frenzy for passports and have fueled debate over who, exactly, is Guyanese. I met a British private equity manager with a Guyanese mother who obtained citizenship shortly after his second visit to the country. One local partner’s contested citizenship became a matter for the High Court.

With the value of land and housing skyrocketing, some local property owners have profited by becoming landlords to expats or by selling abandoned fields at Manhattan prices for commercial real estate. But to many Guyanese, it has seemed as if “comebackees,” the term for returning members of the diaspora, or the politically connected elite are the most poised to benefit from the boom.

Sharia Bacchus returned to Guyana after two decades living in Florida. Ms. Bacchus, who has family connections in the government and private sector, started her own real estate brokerage. She rents apartments and houses to expats for as much as $6,000 a month.

I shadowed her as she showed a prospective buyer — a retired U.S. Marine of Guyanese descent — a duplex condo in a coveted new gated community. She eagerly pointed out amenities that comebackees want: air-conditioning, a pool and, of course, an automatic backup generator.

“If you lose power at any time, you don’t have to worry about that,” she said, reassuringly.

The ghosts of the past

As glimpses of this new Guyana emerge, the ghosts of the past linger. A year ago, a Georgetown hotel, hustling like so many to take advantage of the new oil money, staged a $170-a-head rum-tasting event called “Night at the Estate House.” I’d been trying, unsuccessfully, to interview Exxon Mobil’s top brass in Guyana. When I heard rumors that its country manager would attend, I bought a ticket and, though he was a no-show, I found a seat with his inner circle.

As we sipped El Dorado rum in the garden of a colonial-style mansion, one of the event’s hosts gave a speech that invoked a time when “B.G.,” the insider’s shorthand for British Guiana, the country’s colonial name, also stood for Booker’s Guiana. Now, the speaker observed matter-of-factly, “it’s Exxon’s Guyana.”

Booker McConnell was a British multinational originally founded by two brothers who became rich on sugar and enslaved people. At one point, the company owned 80 percent of the sugar plantations in British Guiana, including the Wales Estate. The Exxon Mobil executive sitting next to me didn’t know any of this. His face reddened when I told him that the speaker had just placed his employer in a long line of corporate colonialism.

Independence came in 1966, but the U.S. and British governments engineered into power Guyana’s first leader, Forbes Burnham, a Black lawyer whom they deemed more pliable than Cheddi Jagan, a radical son of Indian plantation laborers, who was seen as a Marxist peril. But Burnham grew increasingly dictatorial as well as, in a twist of geopolitical fate, socialist.

Booker, which would later give its name to the Booker Prize in literature, still owned Wales at independence. But in the mid-1970s, Burnham took control of the country’s resources, nationalizing sugar production as well as bauxite mining. Like other former colonies, Guyana wanted to make its break with imperialism economic as well as political.

Burnham pushed the idea of economic independence to the breaking point, banning all imports. Staples from abroad, such as cooking oil, potatoes, wheat flour and split peas, had to be replaced with local substitutes. But Guyana didn’t have the farms and factories to meet the demand, so people turned to the black market, waited in ration lines and went hungry.

Guyana was 15 years free when my family arrived on the Wales Estate, by then part of the nationalized Guyana Sugar Company; my parents, then in their 20s, were young, too. My father, the son of plantation laborers, had just earned a natural sciences degree from the University of Guyana, founded at independence to educate the people who would build the new nation. As field lab manager, he tested sucrose in the cane to determine harvest time and oversaw the trapping of rats and snakes in the fields.

We lived in a former overseer’s house two doors from the estate’s main gate, where Mr. Mahabir now stands sentinel, and my mother taught high school in the guard’s village. My parents had only ever studied by kerosene lamp or gas lantern — but this house had electricity, generated on the estate by burning sugar cane trash.

I can remember at age 6 the cold delicacy of a refrigerated apple, a Christmas present from American aunts. It wouldn’t be long before we joined them.

Rigged elections kept Burnham in power for two decades of hardship and insecurity, both ethnic and economic. As soon as our long-awaited green cards allowing entry to the United States were approved, we left, participating in an exodus that created a “barrel economy,” with many communities sustained by money and care packages sent in barrels from relatives abroad. That exodus gutted Guyana: Today, less than 3 percent of the population is college educated.

Burnham’s death in 1985 touched off a series of events that began to change the country. Within seven years, Guyana held its first free and fair elections. Jagan, by then an old man, was elected president. Soon, a younger generation of his party took office and wholeheartedly embraced capitalism. Private companies could once again bid for Guyana’s vast resources. Corruption, endemic in the Burnham era, took new forms.

Then came proof of the dangers of unchecked extraction. In 1995, a dam at a Canadian-owned gold mine gave way. The 400 million gallons of cyanide-laced waste it had held back fouled two major rivers. Simone Mangal-Joly, now an environmental and international development specialist, was among the scientists on the ground testing cyanide levels in the river. The waters had turned red, and Indigenous villagers covered themselves in plastic to protect their skin. “It’s where they bathed,” Ms. Mangal-Joly recalled. “It was their drinking water, their cooking water, their transportation.”

The tragedy led to action. The next year, the government passed its first environmental protection law. Seven years later, the right to a healthy environment was added to the Constitution. Guyana managed to enshrine what the United States and Canada, for instance, have not.

For a moment, Guyana’s natural capital — the vast tropical rainforests that make it one of the very few countries that is a net carbon sink — was among its most prized assets. Bharrat Jagdeo, then president, sold the carbon stored in its forests to Norway to offset pollution from that country’s own petroleum production in 2009. Indigenous groups received $20 million from that deal to develop their villages and gain title to their ancestral lands, though some protested that they had little input. Mr. Jagdeo was hailed as a United Nations “Champion of the Earth.”

And then Exxon Mobil struck oil.

The vision of a green Guyana now vies with its fast-rising status as one of the largest new sources of oil in the world. The country’s sharply divided political parties stand in rare accord on drilling. Mr. Jagdeo, who is now Guyana’s vice president but still dictates much government policy, is a fervent supporter of the Wales project.

But a small, steadfast, multiracial movement of citizens is testing the power of the environmental laws. David Boyd, the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights and the environment, describes the country as a front line for litigation using innovative rights arguments to fight climate change. It includes the first constitutional climate change case in the region, brought by an Indigenous tour guide and a university lecturer.

Not all critics of the petroleum development are environmentalists. What unites them is the belief that the nation’s hard-won constitutional protections should be stronger than any corporation.

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‘The rule of law is the rule of law.’

Liz Deane-Hughes comes from a prominent family. Her father founded one of Georgetown’s most respected law firms, and in the 1980s, back in Burnham’s time, he fought against repressive changes to the constitution. She remembers her parents taking her to rousing rallies led by a multiracial party battling Burnham’s rule. When she was 13, she came home one day to find police officers searching their home. “I lived through the 1980s in Guyana,” says Ms. Deane-Hughes, who practiced at the family firm before quitting the law. “So I do not want to go back there on any level.”

I talked to Ms. Deane-Hughes, now an artist and jewelry designer, on the sprawling veranda of a colonial-style house built on land that has been in her family for five generations. The government has claimed part of it for the natural gas pipeline, which crosses private property as well as the Wales Estate. But the issue, she told me, is bigger than her backyard.

Last month, Ms. Deane-Hughes joined other activists, virtually, at a hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, making the argument that oil companies have compromised environmental governance in Guyana. This coterie of activists have spoken out and filed suits to bring the corporation under the scrutiny of the country’s laws and regulations.

Ms. Mangal-Joly, who responded to the cyanide disaster that prompted those environmental laws, says the government has failed to fulfill its oversight duties. As part of her doctoral research at University College London, she found that Guyana’s Environmental Protection Agency had waived the environmental assessments for every facility treating toxic waste or storing radioactive materials produced by offshore oil production.

The gas plant, too, has been given a pass. In January, the E.P.A. waived the environmental assessment for the proposed Wales plant because Exxon Mobil, although it isn’t building the plant, had done one for the pipeline.

The E.P.A. defended the decision. “It is good and common practice” to rely on existing environmental assessments “even when done by other project developers,” wrote an agency spokeswoman on behalf of its executive director. The agency asserted its right to waive assessments as it sees fit and noted that the courts hadn’t overturned its exemptions, saying, “This no doubt speaks to the E.P.A.’s high degree of technical competence and culture of compliance within the laws of Guyana.”

Ms. Mangal-Joly notes that the power plant sits above an aquifer that supplies drinking water to most of the country. “Our water table is shallow,” she says. “There’s a generation, and generations to come, that will not inherit clean water. We are despoiling a resource far more valuable than oil.”

The waiver infuriated Ms. Deane-Hughes. And the independence of the board that hears citizen concerns struck her as a sham. Its chairman, Mahender Sharma, heads Guyana’s energy agency, and his wife directs the new government company created to manage the power plant. At a hearing of the board, Ms. Deane-Hughes cited the mandate against conflicts of interest in the Environmental Protection Act and asked Mr. Sharma to recuse himself. “I would like you not to make a decision,” she told him.

Six weeks later, the board did make a decision: It allowed the power company to keep its environmental permit without doing an impact statement.

Mr. Sharma, the energy director, dismissed the critics as a privileged intellectual elite sheltered from the deprivations that have led many Guyanese to welcome the oil industry.

At the Inter-American commission meeting, Mr. Bharrat, the minister of natural resources, argued that it is his government’s right as well as its responsibility to balance economic growth with sustainability. “Our country’s development and environmental protection are not irreconcilable aims,” he told them. And he reminded them that they can turn to the courts with their complaints.

Guyana’s highest court has dealt the activists both setbacks and victories. In one of the more consequential cases, activists have thus far prevailed. Frederick Collins, who heads the local anti-corruption group Transparency Institute of Guyana, sued the E.P.A. for not requiring Exxon Mobil’s local subsidiaries to carry a more substantial insurance policy. Mr. Collins argued that the existing $600 million policy was inadequate in the extreme. Major oil spills aren’t rare — two happen worldwide every year. The biggest blowout ever, at BP’s Deepwater Horizon, cost that company $64 billion. The deepwater drilling in Guyana is the riskiest kind.

A retired insurance executive and Methodist preacher, Mr. Collins had been feeling pessimistic about the case ever since the judge allowed Exxon Mobil, with its daunting resources, to join the E.P.A. as a defendant a year ago. In legal filings, the defendants had dismissed him as a “meddlesome busybody” without legal standing to bring the suit.

But in May, the judge, Sandil Kissoon, pilloried the E.P.A. as “a derelict, pliant” agency whose “state of inertia and slumber” had “placed the nation, its citizens and the environment in grave peril.” He found that the insurance held by Exxon Mobil’s local subsidiary failed to meet international standards and ordered the parent company to guarantee its unlimited liability for all disaster costs — or stop drilling. The case is being appealed.

An Exxon Mobil spokesperson said by email that the company’s insurance is “adequate and appropriate” and that a $2 billion guarantee it recently provided, at the order of the court considering the appeal, “exceeds industry precedent and the estimate of potential liability.”

At a news conference, Mr. Jagdeo, the vice president, criticized the ruling and called on Guyana’s courts to make “predictable” decisions. “We are playing in the big leagues now,” he said. “We are not a backwater country where you can do whatever you want and get away with it.”

To Melinda Janki, the lawyer handling most of the activists’ suits and one of the few local lawyers willing to take on the oil companies, the question is whether Exxon Mobil can get away with doing whatever it wants. She helped shape some of Guyana’s strongest environmental laws. “Even though this is a massive oil company,” she said, “they still have to obey the law. The rule of law is the rule of law.”

The dissidents are deploying the law in their fight against the oil giant and the government, but with billions on the line, they’re also combating the currents of public opinion.

A fossil fuel economy in a changing world

For all the misery wrought by sugar during the colonial era, its legacy as an economic powerhouse lingers in local memory.

In Patentia, the village closest to Wales, where I attended first grade, laid-off sugar workers remember the estate as the center of the community. When its 1,000 workers lost their jobs, thousands more were sent reeling, as businesses from rum shops to mom-and-pop groceries folded.

The Guyana Sugar Corporation, then the country’s largest employer, eliminated a third of its work force, leaving about a fifth of the population coping with the effects of unemployment.

The timing of the closures, a year after the oil discovery, raised hopes that the petroleum industry might somehow fill the void. Seven years after the closures, however, most sugar workers haven’t found new jobs. Certainly, very few are employed by the petroleum industry.

Their struggle raises a crucial question for Guyana as it wrestles with the transition from the old economy to the new: How can Guyanese without the skills or education for petroleum jobs benefit? Nested within that quandary ticks another: What if the new economy isn’t so new? What if its petroleum-driven vision of progress is actually already outdated?

Thomas Singh, a behavioral economist who founded the University of Guyana’s Green Institute, has argued for transforming the still-active sugar industry’s waste into cellulosic ethanol, a cutting-edge biofuel. But Mr. Sharma, the energy agency head, says the industry is too small for its cane husks to power very much. Some of the jackpot from Norway for carbon offsets has been earmarked for eight small solar farms, but Mr. Sharma, who drives an electric car and has solar panels at his house, maintains that solar energy is too expensive to be a primary power source, despite arguments to the contrary . The giant hydroelectric project the Norway deal was supposed to fund, powered by a waterfall, has long been stalled.

What dominates the local imagination now is oil and gas. During my stay in Guyana, I kept hearing the calypso song “ Not a Blade of Grass ” on the radio. Written in the 1970s as a patriotic rallying cry and a stand against Venezuela, which threatened to annex two-thirds of Guyana, it has made a comeback with a new cover version. (So, too, have Venezuela’s threats .) The lyrics, to an outsider’s ear, sound like an anthem against Exxon Mobil: “When outside faces from foreign places talk about takin’ over, we ain’t backin’ down.” But in Guyana, it has been invoked recently to assert the nation’s right to pump its own oil. The voices against drilling, however outspoken, remain isolated; the more passionate debate is over whether Guyana should renegotiate its contract to get a bigger take of the oil proceeds.

Oil is seen as such a boon that even questioning how it’s regulated can be branded unpatriotic. Journalists, academics, lawyers, workers at nongovernmental organizations and even former E.P.A. employees confided their fear of being ostracized if they spoke against petroleum.

Since becoming an adult, I’ve returned to Guyana every few years to research the country’s past and its legacies. During this recent trip, an elder statesman I interviewed told me that it was time I moved back permanently. The thought points to a hope, reawakened by oil, that Guyana can reclaim its lost people. But from my recent trips back to the country, it’s hard to tell now what Guyana is becoming, and who will thrive there as it evolves.

The house my family lived in on the Wales Estate still stands. It has been freshly painted and refurbished, with a daunting sign outside threatening trespassers with closed-circuit television, dogs and drone surveillance. It has passed into private hands. Exactly who owns it is a matter of speculation. The rumor in Patentia? A former sugar worker from Wales repeated it to me: “Exxon owns that house.”

Do you have a connection to Guyana?

It’s still early days in Guyana’s transformation, and the events unfolding in Guyana will have a notable impact worldwide. We’d like to hear your perspectives on where the country is heading. We especially want to engage Guyanese people and those with family or ancestral connections to the country.

The Headway initiative is funded through grants from the Ford Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF), with Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors serving as a fiscal sponsor. The Woodcock Foundation is a funder of Headway’s public square. Funders have no control over the selection, focus of stories or the editing process and do not review stories before publication. The Times retains full editorial control of the Headway initiative.

Gaiutra Bahadur is the author of “Coolie Woman: The Odyssey of Indenture.” She teaches English and journalism as an associate professor at Rutgers University in Newark.

A Guide to Sugar and Other Sweeteners

One of the best things you can do for your health is to cut back on foods with added sugar . Here’s how to get started .

A W.H.O. agency  has classified aspartame as a possible carcinogen . If the announcement has you worried, consider these alternatives to diet soda .

A narrative that sugar feeds cancer has been making the rounds for decades. But while a healthy diet is important, you can’t “starve a tumor.”

Sugar alcohols are in many sugar-free foods. What are they, and are they better than regular sugar ?

Many parents blame sugar for their children’s hyperactive behavior . But the myth has been debunked .

Are artificial sweeteners a healthy alternative to sugar? The W.H.O. warned against using them , saying that long-term use could pose health risks.

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