Thinking a lot about ratchets lately. Internal and external. Ratchets are more fundamental than clocks. Things that can only grow in one direction, and reversed only via destruction.
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There's surprisingly few literal ratchet mechanisms in biology. The hayflick limit (cell reproduction) is one I can think of. There's also some enzymes that work kinda like mechanical ratchets. The body is bad at "counting" itself. Lots of tick tocks, few odometers.
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the first example that leapt to mind was tree growth (can self-prune or let fire/environment prune but can’t un-grow)
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