HackerTube

How To Count Past Infinity

Vsauce6 HN recommenders · 2016–2022
29.7M views · explainer · evergreen · Uploaded 2016-04-09

Vsauce's Michael Stevens takes viewers past infinity using transfinite numbers, ordinals and cardinals, with input from mathematician Hugh Woodin. It is a fast-paced, mind-bending tour of different sizes of infinity.

HN recommends it as the most accessible introduction to what lies beyond infinity.

Recreational & visual mathLogic & formal methodsPure mathematics

Watch on YouTube

10 comments from Hacker News

@okket2016 · in “The Man Who Knew Infinity”

Completely offtopic, except for math and title, but highly recommended while waiting for the movie: "How To Count Past Infinity" [VIDEO]

RecommendsView on HN
@okket2016 · in “Mathematicians Bridge Finite-Infinite Divide”

Related (a bit of Cantor and Hilbert, no direct relation to Ramsey’s theorem): "How To Count Past Infinity" [VIDEO]

CitesView on HN
@lasfter2016 · in “What I learned as a hired consultant to autodidact physicists”

The issue is that there are different infinities. The infinity the parent is talking about, the one that you generally run into in calculus class and the like, is straightforward. The research in the past century was about what happens _past_ infinity, e.g. ordinal numbers. I'm no mathematician either, so I'll stop there before I embarrass myself. The most accessible resource I found was this VSauce video [1]. [1] [VIDEO]

RecommendsView on HN
@okket2016 · in “Life on the Infinite Farm [pdf]”

My personal favourite to illustrate infinity (as possible) and some math concepts around it is still the video "How To Count Past Infinity" from Vsauce: [VIDEO] "This is math, not science." (~12:30)

Strongly recommendsView on HN
@cjslep2017 · in “Mathematicians Measure Infinities, Find They’re Equal”

There is one English definition of infinity, but when applied to ordinals ("degrees of freedoms"), you get different mathematical concepts of infinity. Vsauce's explanation is approachable: [VIDEO]

RecommendsView on HN
@hawktheslayer2018 · in “Ask HN: What are fun entertaining YouTube channels/videos you watch in free time?”

VSauce is a science channel which I find both entertaining and educational. Fun and fast paced and often mind-bending. [VIDEO]

RecommendsView on HN
@swfsql2018 · in “How to explain infinity to kids”

(related - and I enjoyed the vibe he put into it): [VIDEO] - Vsauce's "How to Count Past Infinity"

RecommendsView on HN
@teh_klev2018 · in “Absolute Hot”

Thanks for that, I hadnt' bumped into that channel before. After watching this one I watched the one on how to count past infinity....mind suitably blown :) [VIDEO]

RecommendsView on HN
@x3n0ph3n32019 · in “TREE vs. Graham’s Number [video]”

I really need a video on transfinite cardinals and ordinals beyond Aleph_0 and Epsilon_0. The VSauce video [1] on the topic only made me more curious with an elusive tree diagram displaying a few, and PBS Infinite Series [2] [3] just barely touched it. The mention of the Veblen hierarchies really piqued my interest, but much of what I've found on them has been a bit too dense for me. 1. [VIDEO] 2. [LINK] 3. [LINK]

CitesView on HN
@yamrzou2022 · in “The Axiom of Infinity”

Thanks for sharing. I'm going to add here some links that I've been curating regarding the "existence" of infinity: The physics of infinity - [LINK] - Discussion: [LINK] Is infinity Real? - [LINK] - Solution: [LINK] Do infinities exist in nature? - [LINK] Does infinity exist? - [LINK] - Discussion: [LINK] How to count past infinity - [VIDEO] How real are real numbers? - [LINK] - Discussion: [LINK] / [LINK] Are Real Numbers Real? - [LINK] - Discussion: [LINK]

CitesView on HN