Path dependency is a way of describing technological or economic habits that is akin to the concepts of chreods. With path dependence, both the starting point and 'accidental' events can have significant effects on the ultimate outcome.
Ralph Waldo Emerson believed that the world would beat a path to the door of the maker of the better mousetrap, yet this is often not the case. Familiarity and custom make the accepted mousetrap seem "good enough," particularly if an effort is required to learn to use the new one. Group use accentuates individual acceptance. (cf. Rupert Sheldrakes concept of morphic fields)
Do both these concepts depend on a metaphor of erosion? of usure ? Is path dependency always downhill?
path dependency
in theory, techno-science