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Re:Is infinity an odd or even number? (2011) by catiopatio on Wednesday May 03, 2023 @12:38AM (#35798068)
> It is in this sense that there are infinities of different sizes.

They aren’t actually different sizes, though.

All this proves is that under specific set theoretic assumptions, a contradiction arises if you define “size” as “cardinality” and assume that a particular bijective relation exists between your two infinite sets.

It doesn’t actually mean the sets have different sizes, it just means they differ under a set of assumptions that may (or may not) be useful for your purposes.

Re:Is infinity an odd or even number? (2011) by ironSkillet on Wednesday May 03, 2023 @06:30AM (#35800483)
> They aren’t actually different sizes, though.

What's your precise definition of size that allows someone to actually make a rigorous argument comparing the size of any two sets?

Re:Is infinity an odd or even number? (2011) by catiopatio on Wednesday May 03, 2023 @03:55PM (#35806918)
I don’t have one that doesn’t admit a contradiction here … which I’d argue is because comparing the size of an infinite set is nonsensical, even if the properties used to do so are otherwise useful.

Similarly, I can also work around Russel’s paradox by introducing infinite universes, but that doesn’t actually resolve the paradox, it just provides a set (ha ha) of rules that may be leveraged to formalize the Set category and otherwise prove useful things.

Just because your formalization admits a proof by contradiction doesn’t actually prove two infinite sets have different sizes, it just proves that a contradiction exists under your assumptions.

Re:Is infinity an odd or even number? (2011) by ironSkillet on Wednesday May 03, 2023 @06:19PM (#35808570)
If you aren't allowed to operate in a logical system with a concrete definition of "size", then you can't say things like "doesn't actually prove two infinite sets have different sizes". So the whole debate is moot.
Re:Is infinity an odd or even number? (2011) by catiopatio on Wednesday May 03, 2023 @07:18PM (#35809156)
> So the whole debate is moot.

Well, yes. :)

Re:Is infinity an odd or even number? (2011) by ironSkillet on Wednesday May 03, 2023 @08:04PM (#35809555)
Thanks for wasting my time by avoiding any precision in your language lol.