I think your conclusions are erroneous and frankly a bit silly...
...I will assume that you are continually checking to see if there are updates for your electronic charts for the various platforms that you use...
...However, I don't buy the argument that paper charts have an inherent risk to them.
For the most part, the apps I like best don't require me to check if there are updated charts. They realize when there is an internet connection and then connect to NOAA and tell me how many charts are waiting for update. With one click, the charts needing updating will be downloaded and installed without any further action by me. That's what we've all come to expect - software and data that lets us know when there are updates. It's one of the major innovations Apple provided with the iTunes store that informs you when an app has been updated and in one tap, gets the new version and installs it. That was new just 9 years ago.
Since it's been more than 3 years since the original essay, I have another point that has grown as time has marched on. Back in 2013, I didn't bring it up but it is very valid today.
I have a degree in mathematics. I like math. Deduced reckoning was one of my most favorite things about boating. I worked out all the tricks using 6 minute updates to allow the math to be done in my head. It was fun and I was pretty good at it. I did plenty of boating before there was LORAN or GPS. I remember the time my dad bought an RDF at the Annapolis boat show. It was incredible to imagine that we could have a machine capable of double-checking our calculations.
Fast forward to today. Nearly none of us has DR skills any longer. Sure, give me some parallel rules on a beautiful clear day and I can work out the math. Probably. Don't add set and drift because I don't remember how to do it. Take me across the Gulf stream heading east and I probably couldn't hit Great Sale Cay unless I saw it first (today). Heading west, I'd surely hit America, but east? I doubt I could do it with the Gulf Stream calculation needed.
Next add some bad weather to the mix. Put me in 5 foot head-on seas and there is no way I'll be reliable at doing any type of DR calculation today. I'd guarantee that it would be wrong.
So the added danger today is that people put paper charts on their boat as a backup. But that backup only provides a false sense of security. If the time came when they really needed it, they couldn't use it. I know I couldn't reliably perform the math needed. A much better backup would be a tablet. Or another phone.
A common argument to that is, but wait - I'm on the ICW and I just want the paper charts to pick out buoys so I know where I am. And sure, paper can be used for that. This is assuming the GPS constellation is out because surely, everyone agrees that we are all safer by having our position constantly updated within 16 feet of our location. And if the GPS satellite system were shot out of the sky (and GLONASS too because every GPS manufactured after 2011 has both constellations supported) then you can still use your iPad to help figure out the next buoy and use visual means to align your position on the electronic chart. And again, add some weather with driving rain and the electronic charts will be a welcome alternative to wondering if that's R4 or R4A coming up.
The strange thing to me about the continuation of this argument is that I actually think that electronic charts are becoming dangerous too for a different reason. I've been asked to give a keynote talk at an upcoming NOAA planning meeting about that subject and the future of electronic charts. It's more than bewildering that there are still arguments about paper charts being made. The argument is akin to not understanding why anyone would leave a dock without a sextant.
