Cognitive Scaffold

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MENTAL MODEL · M5541

Muller's Ratchet

Muller's Ratchet
SystemsHigh supportSystems Theory
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Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-30

CORE DEFINITION

In asexual populations, deleterious mutations accumulate irreversibly (like a ratchet that only turns one way), leading to an ever-increasing genetic load and eventual extinction. Sexual reproduction (genetic recombination) can purge these deleterious mutations.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

Degeneration of closed systems. A closed organization or ideological system, lacking external genetic exchange (recombination), accumulates internal errors and toxins unidirectionally like a ratchet, unable to self-cleanse. Openness and exchange are the only mechanisms to purge systemic toxins.

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Asexual populations lack genetic recombination, so deleterious mutations accumulate unidirectionally (ratchet only goes forward, not backward), increasing genetic load until extinction; sexual reproduction uses recombination to purge mutations, achieving self-cleaning.

MINIMUM ACTION

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Source support: Explicit

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    en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muller%27s_ratchetZH · Explicit
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