We prove the Epistemic Scarcity Theorem (EST): for any self-maintaining rational agent operating within a physically realizable set of novelty generators, there exists a finite time t* beyond which the agent's representational developmental rate converges to zero asymptotically. The proof rests on two foundational axioms — A1 (Finite Accessible Novelty Principle, grounded in Lloyd's computational speed bound) and A2 (Threshold Divergence, supported by the Complexity Threshold Monotonicity theorem conditional on Generator Predictability axiom A4) — and yields a conditional impossibility result: if accessible novelty flux is bounded and perturbation thresholds diverge with complexity, unlimited representational development is physically impossible. We formally separate representational complexity C_αᵣep from operational capability C_αcap, showing that while the former necessarily plateaus, the latter may continue growing subpolynomially through optimization of existing structure. The Generator Replacement Theorem (Theorem 6) establishes that premature replacement of any novelty generator before three simultaneous conditions are verified permanently reduces the agent's developmental ceiling — providing an instrumental, not ethical, basis for novelty generator preservation. The Safe Control Window theorem quantifies the exact condition η (t) > 1/ (1−2ε) under which external interventions do not trigger rationality degradation, bridging EST to the FAAV institutional architecture (W31 v1. 7). Two architectural conjectures are identified for a companion paper: Architecture-Novelty Compatibility (triadic heterogeneous architectures outperform monolithic ones in novelty absorption) and the Rationality Filter Paradox (tighter rationality systematically rejects highest-value cross-root novelty). Operational proxies for all theoretical quantities are provided in Appendix E, including falsification conditions. Nikolai Mishko | Astana Digital Hub, Kazakhstan | nikolaimishko@gmail. com Peer review: Claude (Anthropic), ChatGPT (OpenAI), Kimi, Grok, DeepSeek, Gemini.
Nikolai Mishko (Wed,) studied this question.