> You can't throw a legal requirement at math to stop working. Well, it's not stopped them trying in the past [1] - and we now live in a world where hilariousl

> You can't throw a legal requirement at math to stop working. Well, it's not stopped them trying in the past [1] - and we now live in a world where hilariously/terrifyingly certain numbers are just flat out illegal [2] In my mind, a large part of the problem comes from the fact that the people making these rules not only have no understanding of the underlying science, but they aren't even expected to _try_ and understand it, even at a cursory level. Which in itself might not actually be so bad, except we've seen examples time and time again (especially in the UK) where ministers feelings or beliefs trump expert opinion and/or hard science [3] [1] Indiana Pi Bill (an attempt to legislate math): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Pi_Bill https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Pi_Bill [2] Illegal Numbers, see also Illegal Primes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_number https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_number [3] Medical science vs war on drugs, see David Nutt: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Nutt https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Nutt [3a] Current "Snoopers Charter" discussions where industry experts still don't understand what's actually being legislated.