The Emergence Machine

institutional memory · path-dependence

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L14 review noun folk phrase closed compare →

a model that persists through time in a place where parts come and go, holding a thing inside its window by being what remains when those who knew how it was made are no longer there

Institutional memory (noun) means: a model that persists through time in a place where parts come and go, holding a thing inside its window by being what remains when those who knew how it was made are no longer there. It emerges from model, persist, time, space: institutional memory. In the EmergenceLexicon it sits at computed level 14, chaining down to the four foundations (space, time, energy, pattern).

institutional-memory.path-dependence · forms: institutional memory

ordinarily means: the collective knowledge and experience retained within an organization over time

Examples

Emergence

from: model persist time space part window source
through: institutional memory

Chain to foundations

windowL7 window.range: The range of a parameter within which a thing can be; outside it the thing ends though its parts persist.partL1 part.relation: Something that is in a thing but is not all of that thing.spaceL0 space.extent: Where things can be: that in which one thing is here and another is there, apart.putL3 put.placement: to move something into a placerangeL3 range.spatial: the space between two boundariesstructureL2 structure.arrangement: The pattern of how the parts of a thing are placed in space.differenceL1 difference.relation: When one thing is not the same as another; the pattern of one is not the pattern of the other.institutional memoryL14 institutional-memory.path-dependence: a model that persists through time in a place where parts come and go, holding a thing inside its window by being what remains when those who knew how it was made are no longer thereinteractionL2 interaction.process: When two things change each other.insideL5 inside.spatial: in the space that is within an object's boundarypersistL1 persist.continue: To be the same through time.sourceL2 source.origin: a place where a thing beginsenergyL0 energy.capacity: That by which things can be not as they were.changeL1 change.process: When a thing is not the same after as it was before.getL5 get.acquisition: you make a thing come to youmatterL1 matter.substance: A pattern of energy that is in one place in space through time.actL3 act.deed: do somethingoutsideL6 outside.spatial: the space that is not inside a thing's boundarydistinctL3 distinct.attribute: a thing is not the same as another thingparameterL4 parameter.condition: A condition of a thing that can change while the thing persists.saysL8 says.speech: to make a message that other distinct entities getcomeL3 come.arrive: To move through space until being at some place.modelL9 model.representation: A pattern in one thing that is like another thing, so that acting on the pattern can say what the other thing will do.marksL5 marks.visual: A difference that is a pattern on a surface when a part changes that surface.conditionL3 condition.state: a state of a thing that persists through time in a placeobjectL4 object.entity: A thing that has a boundary and an arrangement of parts that persists through time in a place.entitiesL4 entities.object: things that are each distinct from other thingsstateL2 state.condition: a pattern of a thing that persists through time in a placelikeL3 like.similarity: When a thing has the same pattern as another thing.boundaryL2 boundary.limit: The place where a thing ends and what is not the thing begins.motionL2 motion.movement: Change of place: a thing is here, and after, it is there.surfaceL4 surface.exterior: A part of a boundary that touches a thing and is where the thing is not the thing.messageL7 message.information: information that one entity puts into space for another entityothersL2 others.distinct-entities: Things that are in space and time but not the same thing as one, or not the same pattern as one.timeL0 time.dimension: The before and after of things: that in which a thing can be, and then not be the same.informationL6 information.knowledge: a pattern of marks that are differencesmakeL4 make.verb: Parts come together through interaction into a structure and persist in that pattern.touchL3 touch.together: When there is no space between the boundaries of two things, and each can change the other.arrangementL3 arrangement.spatial: a structure of parts in space.patternL0 pattern.regularity: That which is the same again: what is here is also there, or what is now was also before.
full chain as text (127 steps)

Neighborhood

Concepts that depend on this one above; what it is built from below.

built frominstitutional memoryL14institutional-memory.path-dependence — a model that persists through time in a place where parts come and go, holding a thing inside its window by being what rmodelL9model.representation — A pattern in one thing that is like another thing, so that acting on the pattern can say what the other thing will do.persistL1persist.continue — To be the same through time.timeL0time.dimension — The before and after of things: that in which a thing can be, and then not be the same.spaceL0space.extent — Where things can be: that in which one thing is here and another is there, apart.partL1part.relation — Something that is in a thing but is not all of that thing.windowL7window.range — The range of a parameter within which a thing can be; outside it the thing ends though its parts persist.sourceL2source.origin — a place where a thing begins

Provenance

author: phrases:qwen/qwen3-235b-a22b-2507 · date: 2026-07-29 · confidence: 0.7 · source: folk phrase — path dependence