The complicated business-model considerations for driverless cars have already kicked off an intense game of three-dimensional chess, and Google could obviously lose.
"It's a long way to go, and is like a combination of playing three-dimensional chess and bridge and trying to run a NASA space programme, all at the same time, " he added.
Because clearing and settlement are complex activities and their interplay with trading is not well understood, there is plenty of scope for interested parties to lobby furiously with arguments as bamboozling as three-dimensional chess.
Seeing entries for Monopoly, Scrabble and Trivial Pursuit (three Parker Brothers' board games), I was immediately struck by the absence of chess and backgammon.