AIM Framework glossary
Parasitism Theorem
Canonical definition
The Parasitism Theorem is the qualitative theorem that in the three-node fast valuation system the mimetic channel operates parasitically on the Decision Hub and the Observability field, in the sense fixed by five properties: no self-termination, the M dynamics carrying a relaxation term but no deficit-correction term; no dedicated substrate, the couplings that close the internal loop being borrowed from host functions whose original roles are non-parasitic; no stabilising contribution, M supplying drive to the loop without absorbing drive from it; compounding determined by host parameters, the loop-gain condition being stated entirely in host parameters with no parameter of M; and independence from the ignition source, the cycle sustaining itself above threshold on ambient Salience feedback when the exogenous Model input is removed. It is the fast-layer formalisation of Object Parasitism: the two are one phenomenon stated at the catalogue level and at the loop level.
Explanation
Copied wanting has no off-switch of its own, no machinery of its own, and gives the system nothing that steadies it. Whether it runs away depends entirely on settings that belong to the rest of the system: how much weight the decision centre gives it, how strongly being seen feeds back into what others notice, and how readily noticing turns into wanting. Once it is running above the tipping point it keeps going even if the people who started it disappear. That is why it can be controlled only by adjusting those borrowed settings, never by attacking copied wanting directly.
Epistemic status
Theorem (qualitative; Appendix A, Section A.5.4).