The average value of log s(n)/n taken over the first N even integers is shown
to converge to a constant lambda when N tends to infinity; moreover, the value
of this constant is approximated and proven to be less than 0. Here s(n) sums
the divisors of n less than n. Thus the geometric mean of s(n)/n, the growth
factor of the function s, in the long run tends to be less than 1. This could
be interpreted as probabilistic evidence that aliquot sequences tend to remain
bounded.