The Structural Non-Eliminability of Choice and Its Consequences for Systems with Interpretable Prediction

This preprint establishes a structural no-go result concerning the eliminability of choice in systems that provide agents with interpretable predictions of the consequences of alternative admissible actions. A precise account is given of what it would mean to eliminate choice at the structural level, independently of psychological, normative, or ethical considerations. All logically possible strategies for eliminating choice under conditions of interpretable prediction are exhaustively analyzed and shown to either preserve the structural conditions under which choice arises or violate the defining assumptions of the system. The result demonstrates that choice is structurally non-eliminable in the specified class of systems and that responsibility, insofar as it applies, arises only as a derivative of this non-eliminable structure. The analysis is purely structural and does not rely on assumptions about consciousness, autonomy, or freedom of will.