topic: [[Forming Habits]] created: 2023-07-17 *Most of our actions are decided before we take them.* This reminds me of [[Future Lon]], and the need for [[focus attention]] on [[create the conditions]] for his success. It's kind of like the [[dual-subject fallacy]], if we try to separate our thinking and being selves, we end up in a world that doesn't make sense. **path dependence** is a concept in economics and the social sciences, referring to processes where past events or decisions constrain later events or decisions. It can be used to refer to outcomes at a single point in time or to long-run equilibria of a process. Path dependence has been used to describe institutions, technical standards, patterns of economic or social development, organizational behavior, and more.In common usage, the phrase can imply two types of claims. The first is the broad concept that "history matters", often articulated to challenge explanations that pay insufficient attention to historical factors. This claim can be formulated simply as "the future development of an economic system is affected by the path it has traced out in the past" or "particular events in the past can have crucial effects in the future." The second is a more specific claim about how past events or decisions affect future events or decisions in significant or disproportionate ways, through mechanisms such as increasing returns, positive feedback effects, or other mechanisms. > [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Path%20dependence) This matters because habits dominate our action, so [[our environment shapes our behavior]], and our environment means what we experience as we work our way through the day. ##### What would the opposite argument be? We do have conscious thoughts, we _may_ even have free will (we _may not_, of course). tags: #note/idea | #on/behavior | #on/action | #on/habit ##### Sources: wikipedia/path dependence: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Path_dependence