There are tons of women who enjoy the damsel in distress trope and think it’s harmless fun.

There are also tons of women who think it perpetuates sexist stereotypes against women.

Both groups of women’s opinions are equally valid.

Does this not prove that the statement is independent?

  • solrize@lemmy.ml
    14·
    1 day ago

    OP is making a math joke. Independent (always in relation to a given set of axioms) means that you can’t prove the truth or falsehood of the statement from just those axioms. Particularly, there are alternate universes A and B, both consistent with the axioms, where the statement is true in A but false in B.

    Here, the two universes are “women who like the trope” and “women who think the trope is sexist”. The two universes both existing means there is no definite truth of the matter, and “independent” evokes that indefiniteness.

    Overall, a lame joke imho, but whatever. Sorry, OP.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence_(mathematical_logic)

    • woop_woop@lemmy.world
      4·
      1 day ago

      Given the community it was posted in, I assumed good faith. A quick Google of the terms used seemed to point to either someone taking theory too far or I was really missing something.

    • jannaultheal@lemmy.worldOP
      33·
      1 day ago

      Yes, you’re right (except it’s not a joke). Not sure why the other person seems to be dismissive about model theory, reducing an entire field of mathematics to “people are different and think different things”.

      But I still wonder : Are there any axioms that can decide the statement about damsels in distress, just like how axioms can be added to ZFC that decide CH, like V=L and proper forcing axioms as I pointed out?

      • solrize@lemmy.ml
        52·
        1 day ago

        Real life is not math. To get more pointy headed about it, math has been described as the one place where classical logic actually works. In other contexts, you can’t really chain inferences more than one or two deep, can’t really use the law of excluded middle. The blue-eyed islanders’ problem can only be seen as a clever math puzzle rather than a question about a hypothetical reality, etc.

        For those who don’t understand the above: you’re not missing much, so don’t worry.