Other: Dating
Turing Test Speed Dating   (+4, -2)  [vote for, against]
For geeks.

An equal number of male and female participants enter a suitably equipped building, resembling a bar or other venue of social assembly.

However, they are initially segregated.

Instead of meeting face to face, every participant is given a keyboard/monitor which can be linked to any other unit operated by a member of the opposite gender.

However, during the ensuing "conversations", participants will be randomly connected to sophisticated response software rather than a human participant.

This software is designed to rank the quality of their responses against standardised criteria, in effect online personality profiling.

At the end of the session, participants are allowed to select three of their favourite respondants.

If the selections overlap, the system notifies the two "best fit" participants and they get to meet face to face.

Those who consistently select the synthetic respondant are given a new large hard disk drive, a copy of PC World, and a pair of Spock ears. This means they go home happy.
-- 8th of 7, Jul 12 2010

There is only one flaw in this idea: //and they get to meet face to face.//
-- pocmloc, Jul 12 2010


A *real* geek would write an AI to handle his end of the convesation. ("His" since we're dealing in stereotypes, here.)
-- mouseposture, Jul 13 2010


A *real* geek would code his/her girlfriend in Python.
-- Cedar Park, Jul 14 2010


Those Japanese androids would be appropriate for some of the participants.
-- nineteenthly, Jul 14 2010


[Cedar Park] Don't be ridiculous. Python's famously easy to code in. A real geek would use Perl. Or Brainf*ck.
-- mouseposture, Jul 14 2010


Or FORTRAN.
-- 8th of 7, Jul 14 2010


[8th_of_7]'s geek credentials are impeccable: they capitalized FORTRAN correctly.
-- mouseposture, Jul 15 2010


<bows>
-- 8th of 7, Jul 15 2010


[mouseposture]: My bad. The more I think about it, I'm convinced the significant other should be hand- coded in 68000 assembler.
-- Cedar Park, Jul 17 2010


[Cedar_Park] Motorola, not Intel, eh? I sense a certain intellectual affinity.
-- mouseposture, Jul 17 2010


Come on, [mp], can you honestly say you're a fan of segmented adresss space and non-orthogonal instruction sets ?

Hand-coded, yes, but an assembler ? It should be input with a hex editor, or better, toggled in from the front panel switches, shirley ...
-- 8th of 7, Jul 17 2010


[8th_of_7] //input with a hex editor// That is exactly how I did it, when I was programming a Motorola CPU. Just to save time, this is how the Yorkshiremen argument goes: I see your ASM & raise you machine language. You reply with TTL, and I answer with 24-volt relays. You then describe the hydraulic analog computer you built as a science fair project and I retire hit wicket.
-- mouseposture, Jul 17 2010


[8th] You get switches? A real geek edits directly on the disk with a magnetized needle.
-- MechE, Sep 22 2010


you had magnets ?
-- FlyingToaster, Sep 22 2010


Interesting that you stipulated equal numbers of males and females. Are they allowed pair off into homosexual couples if they wish, [8th of 7]?

I take it you are British, from your profile? I seem to recall there is a long tradition of such activity in your public school system. The clink of liveried footmen's bracelets as they change the plates, women's hockey teams and all of that stuff.
-- infidel, Sep 22 2010


//you had magnets ?//

My question, exactly. Magnets are sheer luxury. In my day we had clay tablets and dodo quills.
-- Boomershine, Sep 22 2010


// pair off into homosexual couples if they wish //

Of course.

// all of that stuff //

Ask [MaxwellBuchanan], he's the expert.
-- 8th of 7, Sep 22 2010



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