QI, Series F

[On Bertrand Russell's proof that 1 + 1 = 2]

Stephen Fry:
In order to prove mathematics from the very beginning, you have to establish the first principle of arithmetic, and that piece of symbolic logic was proving that one plus one equals two.

David Mitchell:
It's a bit late, the 20th century, to prove that, I'd say.

Stephen Fry:
A bit late?

David Mitchell:
You've got quite a lot riding by the 20th century on one plus one being two, you know? There's quite a lot of engineering happening. Quite a complex international economy. If you find out that it doesn't equal two, what do we do? Just burn everything! God know anything could fall on our heads. Money, you might as well eat it. Forget civilisation!