AIM Framework glossary
Celebrity Ratchet
Canonical definition
The Celebrity Ratchet is the positive-feedback dynamic in which the PM-component of an Individual-as-Object's valuation compounds through mimetic transmission across the observer network: observed Status raises the Salience of the Individual, which raises the PM attributed to them by further observers, which raises observed Status again. It operates exclusively through Status-PM; the A- and I-components of an Individual's valuation do not self-reinforce through mimetic transmission (a tradesperson whose Status-A rises with genuine demand for their services experiences no ratchet, because A-valuation carries no self-amplifying mimetic channel). The ratchet's steps are individually compounding within a domain, and (because PM is fungible across domains (PM Fungibility Principle)) each accumulated step is deployable into further domains, so visibility in one field converts into deference-eligibility in unrelated fields rather than remaining confined to the domain of original competence.
Explanation
Fame breeds fame. The more attention someone already has, the more attention they attract, because attention itself is the signal other people copy, you notice them because others noticed them, which makes still others notice them. It only works on the status-and-attention part of how we value people, not on the "genuinely useful" part: a good plumber gets busier, but doesn't spiral into celebrity, because usefulness doesn't copy itself the way fame does. And because that accumulated fame is spendable in any field (see PM Fungibility Principle), the ratchet doesn't just make someone more famous at the thing they started with, it makes them eligible for deference everywhere, whether or not they know anything about it.
Epistemic status
Framework-Specific Construct. Derived consequence of Object Parasitism (Axiom 5) operating through the Observability-mediated mimetic loop, restricted to the Status-PM channel. Not an additional axiom.
Derivation
Chapter 8, Section 8.12.1 (Step 1). Formal counterpart: the Observability channel of Appendix A, Section A.5.7.3, applied to an Individual-as-Object (Section A.11.2). Cross-domain reach: Chapter 8, Section 8.12 (PM Fungibility Principle).
Also in the entry
Distinction from the Salience Ratchet Principle. The Salience Ratchet Principle is a property of the Individual who seeks to be Salient: the acknowledgement sought is event-shaped and granted by others, so the demand recurs one rung higher each time it is met. The Celebrity Ratchet is a property of the observer network: regard compounds across observers whether or not the Individual seeks it. The first is why the wanting does not settle; the second is why the supply of regard keeps growing. The two run together in the famous Individual, joined by the Salience-Status Identity, which is why fame grows and does not satisfy.