{
  "id": "in-too-deep.path-dependence",
  "term": "in too deep",
  "sense": "path-dependence",
  "pos": "noun",
  "status": "review",
  "level": 15,
  "arena": "everyday language",
  "domain": "EmergenceLexicon",
  "style": "folk",
  "definition": "A parameter has drifted past the point where maintenance can hold it inside the window, and the model still treats the old boundary as real.",
  "folk_gloss": "committed too far to turn back now",
  "emergence": {
    "components": [
      "drift.aimless",
      "maintenance.upkeep",
      "window.range",
      "boundary.limit",
      "model.representation"
    ],
    "interaction": "self-model",
    "novel_properties": [
      "path-dependence"
    ]
  },
  "examples": [
    {
      "text": "The Boeing 737 MAX kept using the old MCAS software design to avoid costly retraining, despite changing aerodynamics.",
      "domain": "engineering"
    },
    {
      "text": "New York City's subway signal system remained analog because replacing it would require shutting down lines no politician could authorize.",
      "domain": "institutions"
    },
    {
      "text": "The Amazon rainforest has lost so many trees that it now emits more carbon than it absorbs, unable to return to previous function.",
      "domain": "ecology"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [],
  "used_by": [],
  "forms": [
    "in too deep"
  ],
  "closed": true,
  "provenance": {
    "author": "phrases:qwen/qwen3-235b-a22b-2507",
    "date": "2026-07-29",
    "confidence": 0.7,
    "sources": [
      "folk phrase — path dependence"
    ]
  },
  "canonical": "https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-in-too-deep.path-dependence"
}