bigmerge
05e5d3c402
The link-formation scan walked candidate slots ascending and stopped at ENGRAM_HEBB_LINK_PER_CALL (2). Slot index is a hash of the node id pair, so whenever more than two candidates cleared LINK_MIN in the same call, the two consolidated were the two with the lowest hash and a stronger association waited - indefinitely, since the scan restarts from slot 0 every call while the leader decays at ENGRAM_HEBB_DECAY. Measured 08-13..08-15: hebb_cand_max peaked at 0.4963, 3.3x LINK_MIN, during a ~14h stretch of continuous qualification at the 2/call cap. Same defect the 2026-08-02 review named and fixed for breakthrough weights (index order is not a cognitive criterion), never carried across to the one path that writes permanent structure - and there is no pruning path, so growth is one-way. Selection pressure matters most where the result is irreversible. No-op when <=2 candidates qualify; picks the best when more do.