Uncountable sets in countable models of ZFC

The contradiction is inside the definition of "countable". A set is countable if there exists a surjection from $\mathbb{N}$ to our set. The function that would make our inside-the-model set countable doesn't exist inside of the model, so inside of the model, the set is uncountable.


The issue is not that $2^\omega$ is uncountable. It is that the set $\{A\mid\mathcal U_0\models A\subseteq\omega\}$ is countable. The fact that $\mathcal U_0$ is a model of $\sf ZFC$ means that in $\mathcal U_0$ there is a object which represents this set; but also that there is no bijection between the object $\mathcal U_0$ "thinks" is $\omega$, and the object representing the set above.

So $\mathcal U_0$ "thinks" there is no bijection between some object and $\omega$, which is exactly the definition for $\mathcal U_0$ "thinks" that some object is uncountable.


The reverse thing is also possible, if there is a model of $\sf ZFC$, then there is one $\mathcal U_1$ such that the set $\{A\mid\mathcal U_1\models A\text{ is a finite ordinal}\}$ is uncountable. So $\omega$, or the set that $\mathcal U_1$ "thinks" is $\omega$—the epitome of countability—is in fact uncountable!