Fantastic article from Quanta Magazine (Kevin Hartnett) about new findings/proof of the equivalency of two variant infinities — actually findings published a year ago; am amazed it’s just now reaching the wider press (at least I’d not heard about this ’til now!):
Part of what makes the proof interesting (IF I understand matters correctly) is that it didn't require any re-statement of fundamental set theory, but only a bringing together of disparate math models that had not been linked up before. Even if you (like me) don't understand the details of the finding, just recognizing that a 50+ year problem has been resolved is very exciting. The solvers, Maryanthe Malliaris and Saharon Shelah, received the Hausdorff Medal for their work earlier this year.
…In a bit of irony, the above article got tweeted out yesterday on the very anniversary of the death of David Foster Wallace whose book on infinity, “Everything and More,” I've discussed earlier here:
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