I would find it as odd to receive such a call as it would be for me to make such a call. I would be waiting for them to mention the specific reason for the call, something they wanted to ask my help with or whatever. It would be even stranger if there was no such reason, it was "just to talk".

Why is this posted here, rather than as a comment on Scott's blog post?

Inauthentic challenge (eg, enemies who look very strong but who are actually at a huge power or ai disadvantage to the player that's easy for the player's lizardbrain to not notice and to feel like they're being very skillful)

Games are designed so that success is possible.

Money can do a lot, but it cannot buy people who will not merely care for you, but care about you in your declining years.

There are no guarantees in life.

It’s more usually about having kids to take care of you in your old age.

It's not about the substrate, it's about their actual performance. I have yet to be persuaded by any of the chatbots so far that there is anything human-like behind the pretence. AI friends are role-playing amusements. AI sexbots are virtual vibrators. AI customer service lines at least save actual people from being employed to pretend to be robots. In a house full of AI-based appliances, there's still nobody there but me.

the toaster ... will

I prefer to talk about the here and now. Real, current things. Speculations about future developments too easily become a game of But Suppose, in which one just imagines the desired things happening and un-imagines any of the potential complications — in other words, pleasant fantasy. Fantasy will not solve any of the problems that are coming.

Indeed, growing up in a small pond and then discovering the wider world can be a shock. The star high school student may discover they are only average at university. But one learns, as you learned about your chess.