Cryptology Be Like

The entire internet—our digital fortress of cat videos, social media drama, and online shopping—rests precariously on the skinny legs of "the fact that we suck at basic number theory." That's modern cryptography in a nutshell! Your bank account isn't protected by an impenetrable force field, but by the mathematical reality that factoring massive prime numbers would take conventional computers longer than the universe has existed. Our digital security is basically just us saying "figure out these two prime numbers that multiply to make this giant number" and hoping nobody's smart enough to solve it quickly. Next time you enter your credit card online, remember you're protected by nothing more than humanity's collective mathematical incompetence!