Michael Gordon - Timber Part III
Classic story of a guy who owns a handheld machine that simulates all of reality. He uses it to win sports bets. Makes a fortune. Loses the machine. One of his servants picks it up and discovers that it's useful for figuring out the maximally efficient lie in any given situation, which new skill he then uses to cheat on his wife as often as he likes. This guy loses it when he leaves it in a girl's jacket at a bar. The girl finds the machine and wraps her head around it pretty quickly. She understands it to such an extent that she makes another machine, to simulate what would happen if everyone had their own handheld simulator. She wants to make the right choice for herself, and the right choice for everyone else. She also makes a simulator for the simulator, a smaller one that hooks up to the original one, to see what the simulator would spin off into whirling, subjunctive realities. What she sees makes her stop any further investigation.[Buy Timber]