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Fri 26 Mar, 2004 12:29 pm
What do you know about "path dependency.?"
It has been explained to me with two examples.
The first typewriter, in the late 1800s, to get on the market had a keyboard that is called a "QWERTY" keyboard after the letters in the first row. Other manufacturers began to design and build typewriters. they also found that QWERTY was not the most efficient keyboard. So they developed more efficient keyboards based on the frequency of letter usage. But tens of thousands of secretaries across the nation had already been trained in QUERTY. So, the newer typewriters could not be sold. The keyboard first used established the path for all subsequent typewriters. This flies in the face of those who believe the market place always results in the best selection.
The second example is Sony Beta Max video tape vs VHS. Beta Max was far superior to VHS, but SONY would not license other companies to manufacture their product. VHS players became more prevalent and the standard. path dependency Beta Max fell by the wayside. The second best audio tape won out and VHS became the only video tape. Since then, the market place worked and the DVD is now the best.
I just recall a third example. But I don't know enough about computers to explain it very well. Has to do with Apple system being superior to DOS or IBM or somethng. I do remember early computer owners laughing at the use of a mouse and point and click.
My examples may be filled with errors, but don't take issue with my mistakes. The isssue is Path Dependency. What do you know about it?
Hmmm, trying to think of a good one. Never heard the term before, but it certainly describes a hell of a lot of biology...
I'm not really sure the DVD issue is related to path dependency in your 2nd example but that's neither here nor there I suppose.
The basic principle is pretty straight forward.
A leads to B which leads to C and then on to D, E and F...
You can apply that to biology (as patio mentioned), technology, sociology, etc.. It's just a matter of tracing how we got to where we are. (PBS used to have a great show called "Connections" that was really nothing but explanations of different cases of path dependency.)
Umm.. human blood types are a form of path dependency. Say your paternal Grandmother was a O Neg, your Paternal Grandfather was AB, your Maternal Grandmather was O Pos and your Maternal Grandfather was AB.
In both cases your grandmothers would have contributed an O allele to each of your parents. If both of your parents inherited the A allele from their fathers then both of your parents would have type A blood.
Because of that you (and any siblings born from the same parents) could never be blood type "B" or "AB". Your blood type is tied to your parents so you can only be a type O or a type A yourself.
And if you inherited the A allele from both of your parents you can't pass on the O allele to any children you might have. You can only pass on an A allele.
The path to you is dependent on what came before you and the path after you is dependent on what you pass on.
BTW - the famous quote goes "Its not first to market, its first to scale", once you have market share you also have market inertia on your side.
Great link, Phoenix. Thanks. (I, too, had never heard of path dependency until tonight.)
Hmmm. I wonder, if you make the switch, if you still retain your ability to type on a qwerty board. I'd guess yes...
Yeah, I'd guess it would be like knowing more than one language. Might need to have a period of adjustment each time you go back and forth. ("How's this go again?")
Hmm. I was thinking of it in terms of musical instruments, but you've probably got the better analogy.
Musical instruments makes sense, actually. Muscle memory.
Hmmm. If I think of it in terms of a piano keyboard, it would actually be wickedly hard, because the keys are ordered.
A better example might be the diferrent woodwind instruments, which "overblow" at different intervals. And plenty of people are able to play many different woodwinds, so it prolly ain't too hard.
(wee thread hijack here)
(wee)
Interesting concept, though, billy falcon, thanks for bringing it up.
Just a (wee) question here. Is path dependency comparable to "chaining" in psychology? i.e. one stimulus elicits a response which elicits a stimulus, etc.
Path dependency
I assumed you were talking about the difference between state and path functions. With path functions, the happenings between one point/event and the next are relevant; with state functions only the two points/events are important. The simplest example I know of regards distances.
Say you want to get from San Francisco to New York. A state function of the distance you travelled would just tell you that you went X miles/kilometers as the crow flies. A path function would tell you exactly how far you went depending on what route you took: for instance, you would travel much farther if you made a stopover in Mexico City before going on to New York, as opposed to only travelling through the intervening states.
Or, if you were making a round trip, the state dependent function would say you travelled a total of 0 miles, whereas the path dependent function would give the actual distance logged.
Think of it as the odometer in a car. If you drive one mile forward, and then one mile in reverse, the odometer will NOT say you went zero miles.
So in reference to the Qwerty/Dvorak keyboards issue, the point is that by placing the most frequently used letters as close as possible to the "home" range (i.e. the places your fingers rest on the keyboard), the Dvorak keyboard minimizes the movements of your fingers. This allows you to type faster, and thereby reduces the amount of stress to the hands and wrists.
Hope that helps!
Hmmmm, I think the point is that we're stuck with the inefficient qwerty keyboard because the "path" doesn't let us move to a better one. The jump is not economically feasible, thus the configuration of future keyboards is dependent on earlier decisions.
patiodog,
You hit the qwerty key right on its eighteenth century head. It's as antiquated as anything could be and still be in use.
Isn't it ironic that querty is operating right alongside the most sophisticated electronic equipment?
Thing is, I can't really think of a sentence a whole lot faster than I can type it, so it doesn' worry me all that much. (Then again, maybe the speed at which I think while I type is conditioned by the speed at which I am able to type.)
Yah, Krugman's path dependence theory is interesting. I have a chapter on historic path dependence in my dissertation, as one of the factors explaining ethnic conflict in central europe. cumulative causalities that cannot be reverted.
Oh, interesting.
Does this mean that the dread dissertation has been dispatched? Finished finished finished?
If so, I'd love to read it.
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