# old habits die hard (path)

*Ordinarily means:* It's difficult to stop doing something the way you've always done it.

A self-model that persists through time even when the environment changes, because the cost of updating it exceeds the immediate benefit of change.

- Computed level: L17 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: review  ·  Domain: human behavior

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [self-model](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-self-model.reflexive), [persistence](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-persistence.endurance), [cost](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-cost.economic), [benefit of the doubt](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-benefit-of-the-doubt.trust), [environment](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-environment.surroundings), [parameter](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-parameter.condition)

**Through:** self-model persists despite environmental change due to cost-benefit imbalance in updating

**Novel properties:**
- path.dependence

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*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-old-habits-die-hard.path*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-old-habits-die-hard.path.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*