# A technology’s value is relative to the amount of value it unlocks Technology can unlock value by making another technology easy enough to use that it crosses some threshold between use and not use. [[Continuous changes can lead to discrete differences]] Regulations can modulate how much value a technology is able to unlock. In the most extreme case they can simply prevent using a technology for a specific use case. Doing that makes the value go to zero. Regulations can also hamstring a technology’s capabilities. For example dictating that autonomous cars must have a safety driver. These are two ways that [[Regulations slow down technological advancement]]. Interestingly, if [[Frontier Technology]] causes a crossover point where it makes sense to use one technology over another, it unlocks very little value at first. For example little value is unlocked in airplane creation by carbon fiber exactly matching aluminum in strength/weight ratio. Unlocked value needs to take into account switching costs, which are absolutely real. So in a situation where a technology just hits a crossover point, the actual value unlocked could be negative because of the switching costs. Lower switching costs could make a technology more valuable in a niche market. [[Frontier technologies need to start in niche markets where they are especially valuable]] [[People are more averse to short term losses than they are attracted to long term gain]] which can cause them to treat switching costs as larger than they are compared to the long term value of a technology. This may also be rational time discounting. <!-- #evergreen --> [Web URL for this note](http://notes.benjaminreinhardt.com/A+technology’s+value+is+relative+to+the+amount+of+value+it+unlocks) [Comment on this note](http://via.hypothes.is/http://notes.benjaminreinhardt.com/A+technology’s+value+is+relative+to+the+amount+of+value+it+unlocks)