miss any bets."

So far you couldn't see anything to complain about in his pitch, considering it alongside the pitch for General Computers' Incomac. In fact it essentially was a General Computers pitch, with the brand name changed. Let's get to the point, I thought. I pointed to the odd suitcase. "Uh ... what's that?"

He was adaptable enough to give up the Michael Thompson story and open up the suitcase, promptly and proudly.

"Oh, the computer," I said, almost encouragingly.

But he didn't let that stand. "No," he admitted, "this is just a life-size facsimile of the new Statistomat. I'm afraid the real thing is too valuable and too heavy for me to carry around, even to such an important interview as this."

"How heavy?"

"I'd say about ten times as heavy as this one," he evaded neatly. "Now on this facsimile I can illustrate the ideas we've been developing. Here, you see this screen and these knobs. I'll turn this switch on and we can watch this part of it just as if this was the real computer."

My surprise was genuine. His demonstration mockup was a live one. I wished my brother could see it.

"On this screen we record your time-dependent utility function. For your convenience, the input is mechanical, but from this point on all the Statistomat's computing is performed digitally."

I said, "Huh?"

"Time-dependent utility function," he repeated brightly.

"Oh, I can't be bothered—all that technical stuff—leave it to specialists," I muttered, making the trap nice and inviting.

But he knew he had to explain. "Naturally only the essentials need your personal attention," he said smoothly. "You express in the time-dependent utility function your financial policy—the broad, overall outlines of the course you want to steer. This must come from you. This makes the difference between a Robert Jones and a Michael Thompson. You have a possibility of doubling your investment in a year, let's say. How certain do you have to be of it before you prefer it to a more conservative investment? Even odds? Six to four? Or we might ask a similar question about a ten-year period. You see the point."

"Uh ... but it depends on how much I've 

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