A few years ago my daughter recited books of the Bible to me. I learned that there is a book titled Numbers. WTF? I had been pissed off for decades that Americans count everything and suddenly I was gobsmacked that there might be some rationalization for the odd behavior.
What guidance does the book of Numbers provide in the context of public policy, if any? I truly do not know.
The nearest that I have been to the intersection of god and numbers is in the context of calibrating electronic instruments. A calibration lab that I worked with had standards for the volt and second that were traceable to the National Bureau of Standards, now NIST I guess. The calibration lab techs referred to the rack of standards as "God". I thought the reference was funny at the time.
About twenty years later I took a walking tour of Regensburg, Germany. During that tour I learned that their town hall still has the old standards of length mounted near the doorway. Tradesmen that did business in the town had to trade in units according to the Regensburg standard. That story made sense.
It also makes sense that as goods traded across political boundaries, say by ship, there was political pressure to agree on a more general standard such as the meter. That story makes sense.
Where my mind twists into knots is somehow, in America, every number has been rationalized as needing to exist. IMO hell no. Not every number matters. Numbers need to have a story to justify their existence. The Bible has a story of Numbers. Regensburg has a story of Numbers. Scientists have a story of Numbers.
But America has a shitpot full of numbers and no story to justify them. Even worse, it has a public policy based on numbers. Why? WHY? Grrr.
It felt good to let out that rant.
Peace!