The Future of Set Theory

Saharon Shelah

Published 2002-11-26Version 1

Haim Judah has asked me to speak on the future of set theory, so, as the next millennium is coming, to speak on set theory in the next millennium. But we soon cut this down to set theory in the next century. Later on I thought I had better cut it down to dealing with the next decade, but I suspect I will speak on what I hope to try to prove next year, or worse - what I have done in the last year (or twenty). It seems I am not particularly suitable for such a lecture, as I have repeatedly preferred to try to prove another theorem rather than to prepare the lecture (or article); so why did I agree at all to such a doubtful endeavor? Well, under the hypothesis that I had some moral obligation to help Haim in the conference (and the proceedings) and you should not let a friend down, had I been given the choice to help with organizing the dormitories, writing a lengthy well written expository paper or risking making a fool of myself in such a lecture, I definitely prefer the last.