Really Smart Guy

It occurred to me in passing yesterday (Merry Christmas) that the English rules around "its" and "it's" represent an absence of abstract thought on the part of linguistic rule-setters.

I, for instance, see nothing logically wrong with this:

The refrigerator is cold. It is cold because someone has set it's temperature control to the lowest setting.

Why can't the refrigerator possess a temperature control? It does, in fact, have one, right? But, alas, Strunk and White tell us to remove the apostrophe.

Obviously, linguistic rule-setters have have never, ever programmed. Every object can have methods and properties. Duuuuh. Did we really need this rule to differentiate "it's" as a contraction from "it's" as a possessive? Has anyone ever actually misunderstood the placement of the apostrophe when incorrectly applied to imply ownership or similar containing relationship?

Disclaimer: this post represents no judgment of liberal arts majors. Excepting, of course for the liberal arts major that happened to set this silly rule. Psssh.