...the next singularity which is in the direction of maximum outward toward a single point. (think N-dimensional torus with a zero diameter doughnut hole)

Just suppose there has to be temperature oscillations on the order of a year in order to nudge amino acid chains into lipid vesicles, so seasons are required for life. In order to have seasons you have to have your planetary axis significantly different from your orbital axis, so you have to be hit at just the right time post accretion by a body of just the right size at just the right distance from your host star. This is just one silly example of one of a vast number of life "requirements" we're currently ignorant of yet to be factored into "the math". Once the most significant factors are established then probabilities can be estimated; but there's no reason to assume we aren't just cranking out random results at this point. Step one: what are the essential conditions for abiotic goop to become self replicating.

of course you and i are "doing it right". but clear your cookies and leave the "nobeta=1" off your url and you'll see the TMZ/USAToday version of slashdot

It's lamentably inconsistent with the business sense of "moving forward", but it should be stated that the old "no_beta" slashdot was superior in nearly every way. That is, the less you manage to do, the more the loyal old farts (myself among them) will sing your praises. Make glitzy choices which head opposite to a clean text interface and you will lose four geeks to only one newbie gained.

If there aren't carefully designed divisions, for example: autonomous versus wired puppet, this is doomed. If we can't somehow be assured events are unscripted, (the winner being assigned beforehand), then this is doomed just like the previous scripted (saucy?) puppet show. Final blather: if a 'win' is "smoking lump" then my solid block of titanium on a roller-skate will never lose, so a referee must be an actual agent of decision, or else, (yep) it's doomed.

And what makes you believe that the coming chatbot revolution is a source of concern?

Can you explain what makes you say that?

Perhaps we can start again, why is it that you think that concern is something that you feel about chatbots?

Dangit folks, learn your turban: Sikh's tie their turban's so that there's an inverted V at the forehead. and if one had to belong to a religious sect then being Sikh is in the top three (they're much nicer to females than your average Baptist). I'd sooner share a lunch with a Sikh than nearly any 'follower of Abraham' (for the curry, if naught else)

..

I don't know the case for Chicago, but Seattle's traffic ticketing cameras are run by a private contractor. It works like this: the city doesn't have to pay to install or monitor or maintain the equipment and doesn't even own it, but is assured of its accuracy and, of course, a substantial cut of the revenue. Reports roll in of notably increased 'safety' at the monitored intersection, (yet it's not clear who prepares this data). Does a private interest which understandably wants to maximize its profits being able to assess violation fines from the public concern you? it sure as hell does me.

(something tells me lacking all manner of references and affidavits this will be a fool's errand, but...)

Fluke and Tektronix for two. and I know one Boeing engineer who got a raise when he pointed out a major "flaw" in one of their QC servers. "controlled circumstance" in that it's an in-house discovery with no screaming clients demanding a fix yesterday (cf "zero-day")

Some (inspired) companies provide rewards for discovering flaws in their products; allowing them to improve them under controlled circumstances. Some (shorted-sighted) companies punish the discovery of product flaws, preferring the illusion of a pristine public image over the security of their clients. Yet this is clearly a third case: that of it being an intentional "flaw" which was intended to provide revenue. So, if there was such a thing as justice at this level (there isn't) then Facebook should be doubly embarrassed.

i guess someone in Munich is about to get rich(er)... maybe (geworden sein ab). "whois alphabet.com":
Registrant Name: Domain Manager
Registrant Organization: Bayerische Motoren Werke AG
Registrant Street: Petuelring 130, Dept. AJ-35
Registrant City: Munich
Registrant Postal Code: 80788
Registrant Country: DE

At least not until you provide us with a significantly more useful term. Remember: it has to be monosyllabic, suggestive, memorable, and rhyme with "bourguignon".

"let'see everyone who was alive in the 1960s is dead now, right? so it's time again to sucker them into the 'Bachelor Chow' 'Meal in a Pill' scam" : "non-frozen balance energy snack in rod form containing nutritionally balanced amounts of carbohydrate, fat and protein" (yep "rod form", that's exactly missing here)

i really don't want to support Poettering because i don't like the direction systemd has taken. but it's comments exactly like this that make me want to defend him. go with the childish ad hominem statements and lose your argument.