Countable rank-initial segment cannot model ZFC

ID: countable-rank-initial-segment-cannot-model-zfc

If is a countable ordinal and , then must be a limit ordinal. Choose a countable cofinal sequence in . The internal axiom of choice gives, for every , a bijection between and some ordinal below ; that ordinal is externally countable, so every is countable. Hence is countable. But contains the full power set , which is uncountable by Cantor theorem, a contradiction.

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