# institutional memory (path-dependence)

*Ordinarily means:* the collective knowledge and experience retained within an organization over time

a model that persists through time in a place where parts come and go, holding a thing inside its window by being what remains when those who knew how it was made are no longer there

- Computed level: L14 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: review  ·  Domain: organizational knowledge  ·  Arena: emergence

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [model](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-model.representation), [persist](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-persist.continue), [time](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-time.dimension), [space](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-space.extent), [part](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-part.relation), [window](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-window.range), [source](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-source.origin)

**Through:** institutional memory

**Novel properties:**
- self-model

## Examples
- The US Standard Gauge of 4 feet 8.5 inches persisted from 19th-century railroads, inherited from English coal tramways. *(engineering)*
- The IBM 370 architecture continued running legacy code decades after its original engineers retired. *(computing)*
- The Library of Alexandria preserved Hellenistic scientific knowledge long after its originating scholars had died. *(institutions)*

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