# Arrows Theorem Choice theory - the subject of how to go about making rational decisions - is constrained by Arrow's Theorem. And the theorem is essentially this > **Arrows Theorem**: If there exist a list of criteria (the criteria deemed rational by some rules) then those criteria will be inconsistent. Let me state that again: there exists a mathematical proof of a theorem (called Arrow's Theorem) for which the author won the Nobel Prize and that theorem states that a set of rational criteria for making decisions will be logically inconsistent. It is a no-go theorem. It can be thought of like Godel's Incompleteness theorem in the sense that in mathematics it seems clear that anything that is true in mathematics must be provable. But it is not. And there is a proof of that. It seems clear that if criteria for decision making are rational they must be consistent. But they are not. This is to say: that an otherwise perfectly rational entity must be irrational. Either it must not conform to some of its own rational criteria. Or it must be inconsistent. --- Date: 20240910 Links to: [Beginning of Infinity](Beginning%20of%20Infinity.md), Chapter 13 Tags: References: * [Superintelligence 6 - BRETT HALL](https://www.bretthall.org/superintelligence-6.html)