{"id":7793,"date":"2026-06-19T07:39:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T12:39:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/?p=7793"},"modified":"2026-06-19T07:39:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T12:39:16","slug":"standing-firmly-with-sir-paul-on-updates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/standing-firmly-with-sir-paul-on-updates\/","title":{"rendered":"Standing Firmly With Sir Paul on Updates"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Sir Paul McCartney was the final guest on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert<\/em>, whose 11-year run ended in late May to widespread lamentation, including from me. It had been a weeknight staple in our home, although we always watched it a day later on its streaming platform. Watching TV at 10:30 p.m. is no longer on our dance card. The show ended joyfully in its last episode, with the former Beatle leading a contingent of famed musicians \u2014 Jon Batiste, Elvis Costello, Louis Cato and the Great Big Joy Machine, with Colbert singing backup \u2014 in Hello, Goodbye<\/em>. It is hard to imagine a more perfect ending to this show.<\/p>\n

During the interview, McCartney, who is about to turn a spry 84, \u00a0struck a chord with me, pun intended. Colbert asked Sir Paul if he was OK with change, something obviously on Colbert\u2019s mind as his show ends.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Sir Paul said: No. I like things to stay the same. Because I\u2019ve learned how to do them, and then somebody changes it. Like the iPhone. I know how to do it, and then somebody says \u201cUpdate!\u201d I don\u2019t want to update. I bought you. I don\u2019t want you to change!<\/em><\/p>\n

I am writing this on my six-year-old iMac, which scolded me yesterday morning: Unable to update because applications were open. Please close all applications before updating. <\/em><\/p>\n

This is the tyranny of technology. It both saves and sucks up time.<\/p>\n

The next morning, after I dutifully closed all apps before bed, my iMac had updated as I slumbered away. It then took an hour to restart, all while I was trying to send my Capital Highlights column to my editors at Texas Press Association. I was about to head to Starbucks to take advantage of their WIFI when it finally sprang back to life.<\/p>\n

These are admittedly first-world problems. But I have begun to wonder if all this technology is simplifying or complicating my life.<\/p>\n

My iPhone has become my brain in many ways. I have an app for our rural garbage service that reminds me to drag the can to the road and alerts me if service will be delayed due to a holiday. Another app unlocks the door of my new Ford Maverick, a nifty hybrid truck whose technology also boggles my aged mind. This truck will back itself up to my utility trailer and park beneath the hitch. I put it in neutral and keep my feet off the pedals, as if I\u2019m in the automated car wash. The truck does the rest. The first time I tried this, I asked my Beautiful Mystery Companion to stand guard in case something went awry. It worked perfectly.<\/p>\n

I have apps to provide white noise to mask my tinnitus, identify plants, catch up on sports scores, sign in for my gym class, or place a \u201cprediction\u201d on Kalshi. There are apps on my phone that I have no idea what they do or why they are there. Nearly all of these require updating at some point.<\/p>\n

I get emails several times a week from this miasma of apps that one or another has updated their terms of service. OK by me since, like most humans, I never read the terms of service in the first place. Life is way too short to read all the fine print with which we are inundated.<\/p>\n

Artificial intelligence is starting to annoy me. I call a customer service number and am greeted cheerily by a bot who ignores my requests to speak to a human. I use several large language models, such as ChatGPT or Gemini, regularly for both my work and personal use. But I bristle when one of these goobers volunteers to write my email for me. I am perfectly capable of writing my own email, thank you. (Though I am fond of Grammarly and other writing tools.)<\/p>\n

That\u2019s all they are: tools. I am grateful they exist, most days. But I stand with Sir Paul. Enough with the updates, already.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Print this entrySir Paul McCartney was the final guest on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, whose 11-year run ended in late May to widespread lamentation, including from me. It […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[85,38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-85","category-columns"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7793"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7793\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7796,"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7793\/revisions\/7796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}