Thank God for human beings

We're all familiar with that irritating voice: "Your call is important to us. Please hold while we connect you." Or, "You are number 133 in the queue." It's irritating because we know that it's not a human voice but either a recording or one produced by AI. 

And so I was pleasantly surprised by my recent dealings with Apple - of computers, iPhones, watches etc. Since my earliest contact with computers, I have used Apple Macs for the simple reason that when I was thinking it was about time I caught up with the 20th century a kind parishioner called Sheila gave me a Macintosh Lisa (second-hand). She swore by them. In fact she was employed to troubleshoot them for a huge commercial concern. She assured me that it was very intuitive to use - and she was right. I now wish I'd kept that one, of course! They're quite valuable. But being shallow prey to fashion, I kept replacing it with the latest Apples, which never let me down. 

No. This is not an advertising pitch for the manufacturer! Despite its ubiquitous product placement on films (movies as they say in another place) and television, Microsoft still seems to dominate the commercial operating system market inexplicably but perhaps fortunately since Microsoft appears to me to attract hackers. 

In the end, I came unstuck. Despite my reputation for being highly computer-literate, I am in fact a rank amateur in all matters digital. My attempts to migrate my data from my present laptop (a MacBook Air) to a brand new version proved fruitless, not totally but partially. The trouble is I'm getting older and I'm wedded to my present format. Anyway, for the first time in my life, I resorted to Apple Support. First I used the online facility. However none of the suggested topics met my need. AI couldn't help me. Then I was guided to a person, but my problem was beyond their competence and so I was escalated upwards to a phone link, with help from Jane who interprets for me. This time we made progress. 

Still, I didn't have breakthrough. One feature of Apple Support is that you're provided with a case number, and so you don't have to regurgitate all the details you've already explained lower/earlier in the chain. In the end, a young human being, a man called Alaa spent most of his afternoon working on the final and only solution as it seemed to me, which was to stick with my present machine. Having come to this conclusion, the efficiency of sorting everything out was lightning fast. No doubt that process was considerably aided by AI, but the crucial element in the whole saga were the dialogues with various human beings who were universally tolerant - and humane. May they never be phased out.

On a much more significant level than my personal computer illiteracy, I have much enjoyed the bits of the Paris Paralympics that I've watched - from the joyful entrance of the athletes at the opening ceremony to the warmth of winners and losers at the end of events, all sharing in each other's achievements - the best of humanity.