I would say chances that we see a BU-fork in 2017 are 20% at the moment. They need a significant majority in hashpower, something like 80% and that's hard to get.
Last 144 blocks (24 hours):
BU: 43.8%
8MB: 6.9%
Yeah, variance could be a major factor, but that's over half for BU compatible blocks.
Is there any practical reason why bitcoin couldn't be patched so miners can set their own blocksize?
Not at all. See, for example, the recent BitcoinEC effort. Not to mention any branch of Core that simply implements a larger maxblocksize (of course, that would have to keep chasing the emergent consensus)
Is there any practical reason why bitcoin couldn't be patched so miners can set their own blockreward?
Of course. The absolute rejection of the users of any chain containing blocks that deviate from the established reward schedule.
The smartest people in the entire global crypto world are working on bitcoin.
That sounds a lot like the earlier reference to 'American Exceptionalism'. I mean, I don't know different, but do we really think Maxwell and Wuille get a seat at the hall of fame alongside Rivest, Merkel, and Nakamoto?
It's not 16MB, it's 16MB times 6 per hour, times 24 per day, times 365 per year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The result is close to 1TB per year!!!
Be still my heart! I'll need to spend $25* per year to handle the onslaught. How will I ever cope!?!
* or the cost of a handful of smallblock bitcoin transaction fees. oh-the-huge-manatee.png!
One thing Woo (and idiot Ver) may not have accounted for is by centralising so much power around themselves they are now major targets for any variant of the $5 wrench attack
Really? You don't think the fact that they each control a hundreds-of-millions-of-dollars prize is reason enough for the rubber hose cryptography treatment?
BU has sorted this out too... A Bitcoin ...President
Umm... yeah. Did you even bother to read your linked article? Not a president of Bitcoin, but a president of the organization. What are the president's powers and duties?:
President: a publicly identified (real-life identity is known) BU Member who is responsible for the ongoing activities of the confederation. The president shall resolve BUIP number conflicts, organize BUIP discussion (in the forum 5 of 12 designated by the secretary), and schedule/initiate voting (within the limits specified in these articles).
oooh - scary! well ... not.
As a side note of commentary on delusion... all y'all are responsible for your own pain.