# the way we have always done it (path-dependence)

*Ordinarily means:* the customary method we have always followed

a self-model that mistakes past persistence for necessity, obscuring the wall that drift has already crossed

- Computed level: L19 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: review  ·  Domain: organizational behavior

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [self-model](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-self-model.reflexive), [drift](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-drift.aimless), [wall](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-wall.range-end), [parameter](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-parameter.condition), [window](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-window.range)

**Through:** path dependence

**Novel properties:**
- model error
- historical inertia

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*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-the-way-we-have-always-done-it.path-dependence*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-the-way-we-have-always-done-it.path-dependence.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*