I don't think this is a valid counterexample. The Gödel sentence is only verifiable from outside the theory, and you can prove it from outside the theory in the same way (e.g. with a large cardinal assumption for ZFC).
Thanks for pointing this out! I'll update the post.
I'm now not sure what's the distinction between verifiability and discoverability among truths in a formal system.
wannabebarista•5mo ago
I've had lots of great suggestions from HN readers in the past. If I've missed anything cool that you like, please share!
photonthug•4mo ago
Skimming https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1875_in_science the twin studies and behavioural genetics is interesting. The challenger-deep thing too since it's earlier than I would have guessed, but IMHO it would be more exciting/appropriate to categorize as "exploration" than science. Did they publish a "paper" about stuff like that back then, or just tell the royal society, tell the newspapers and call it good?
A pointless but fun question to think about is, how to decide the most important thing that happened in a given year? Sometimes a discovery, sometimes an idea, sometimes a project, election, or war. But for a slow year.. maybe it's just that someone who will have that idea or start that project later was born.
wannabebarista•4mo ago
It's always an interesting exercise choosing which books or articles to write about. There's a balancing act between what I want to read, what I think is important or representative, and what do I know enough about to have anything to add.