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Russell's Paradox – a simple explanation of a profound problem [video]
- dp-hackernews 4y agoThis is a video lecture explaining Russell's Paradox. At the very heart of logic and mathematics, there is a paradox that has yet to be resolved. It was discovered by the mathematician and philosopher, Bertrand Russell, in 1901. In this talk, Professor Jeffrey Kaplan teaches you the basics of set theory (a foundational branch of mathematics dating back to the 1870s) in 20 minutes. Then he explains Russell’s Paradox, which is quite a thrilling thing if you are learning it for the first time. Finally, Kaplan argues that the paradox goes even deeper than Russell himself realized. Also, I should mention Georg Cantor, Gotlob Frege, Logicism, and Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory in this description for keyword search reasons.
- nh23423fefe 4y agoI like the self-descriptive word explanation. Autological/heterological, my mom understood that construction in minutes and had her own eureeka moment as she worked through the inconsistent definition.