Architecture mutation
A structural change to the cognitive system's components, roles, strategies, or subsystem relationships proposed during open-ended evolution mode. All mutations pass constitutional checks before taking effect and are introduced at low weight, with reinforcement determining whether they improve performance.
During open-ended intelligence mode, capability search may produce an architecture mutation: a proposal to add a new agent role, revise a decomposition heuristic, change how subsystems relate, or introduce a new strategy that the current architecture cannot express. Mutations are distinct from policy drift, which adjusts weights within the existing structure. Before reaching constitutional review, the dream engine simulates the proposed mutation against world-model predictions to cheaply screen out proposals with negative expected outcomes. Accepted mutations are introduced incrementally - low weight first - and monitored through the same reinforcement and reflection mechanisms used for all other operational changes. Rejected or quarantined proposals are recorded as emergence evidence and may be resubmitted with a narrower scope after sufficient stabilization.