We show that the problem of finding a Resolution refutation that is at most
polynomially longer than a shortest one is NP-hard. In the parlance of proof
complexity, Resolution is not automatizable unless P = NP. Indeed, we show it
is NP-hard to distinguish between formulas that have Resolution refutations of
polynomial length and those that do not have subexponential length refutations.
This also implies that Resolution is not automatizable in subexponential time
or quasi-polynomial time unless NP is included in SUBEXP or QP, respectively

Atserias, Albert