&gt; You can&#x27;t throw a legal requirement at math to stop working.<p>Well, it&#x27;s not stopped them trying in the past [1] - and we now live in a world where hilariously&#x2F;terrifyingly certain numbers are just flat out illegal [2]<p>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&#x27;t even expected to _try_ and understand it, even at a cursory level.<p>Which in itself might not actually be so bad, except we&#x27;ve seen examples time and time again (especially in the UK) where ministers feelings or beliefs trump expert opinion and&#x2F;or hard science [3]<p>[1] Indiana Pi Bill (an attempt to legislate math): <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Indiana_Pi_Bill" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Indiana_Pi_Bill</a><p>[2] Illegal Numbers, see also Illegal Primes: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Illegal_number" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Illegal_number</a><p>[3] Medical science vs war on drugs, see David Nutt: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;David_Nutt" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;David_Nutt</a><p>[3a] Current &quot;Snoopers Charter&quot; discussions where industry experts still don&#x27;t understand what&#x27;s actually being legislated.