I am back to you with something that could be out of topic...
A extreme right wing party (more likely racist) did produce a small text reproduced below: (original in french first... then approximated translation).
<<Savez-vous qu'une société multiculturelle ne peut être démocratique?
Le prix nobel Kenneth Arrow a démontré mathématiquement, en 1952, qu'il n'y avait pas de démocratie possible via un système de vote (théorème de l'impossibilité), sauf si les électeurs partagent une même culture et des valeurs proches (prix nobel Amartya Sen)>>
[[Do you know that a multi-cultural society cannot be democratic?
The Nobel Prize Kenneth Arrow mathematically showed, in 1952, that there was no possible democracy via a voting system (theorem of impossibility), except if the voters share the same culture and close values (Nobel Prize Amartya SEN)]]
A friend of mine is trying to rebute that statement and gather as much information as possible on this topic.
He did try to explain to me what he found. Assuming there are 3 topics on wich to spend the budget: A, B, C. And when citizen get ask (> = is more important) 33% find A > B > C 33% find B > C > A 33% find C > A > B Then we have a (basic) problem. The theorem would be related to that???
So I have a few questions:
* Do you know of any other extremist party using that argument and making reference to Kenneth Arrow?
* I remember reading that there are no perfect voting system and that given some realistic assumption on the goal and choosing a voting method it is possible to create a set of ballot that will give "unexpected" or "unsatisfying" result... is it true and related to the statement above?
* Would anybody (with some scientific title or experence to backup what he say) willing to speak out and say... "This is a misunderstanding of the theorem." with some explanation. (to be reproduced and publish on the internet).
* Would that Nobel Prize be alive and ready to speak out and say that his view on the topic.
* If that "mathematical proof" turn valid, would there be some assumption that can be proven wrong or discuss enough to say that it does not apply to the real world.
Thanks for your help anyway.
David GLAUDE
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