Just a weird pachinko machine in my brain thing: This may have inspired Heinlein's fictional 'moral calculus', and even Asimov's Psychohistory: Both were very rationalist, math-focused people who didn't like how messy and subjective moral decisions were, and wanted a calculable answer.

I understand wanting a calculable answer, but when all the variables aren't absolutely known (and they almost never are), how can that ever be achievable? And if laws are made without ever consulting the stakeholders, horrors result.