# General purpose technologies * It is a single, recognisable generic technology * Initially has much scope for improvement but comes to be widely used across the economy * Has many different uses * Creates many spillover effects [[General purpose technologies]] is another [[Floating Term]] similar to “Macroinventions” where you know it when you see it and there is a bit of controversy over the lines. Another way to look at it is that [[General purpose technologies are technologies that are lower on the tree]]. As far as I can tell, the characteristics of a general-purpose technology are basically the same as the characteristics of a platform technology. [General purpose technology - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_purpose_technology) <!-- #mental-model --> [Web URL for this note](http://notes.benjaminreinhardt.com/General+purpose+technologies) [Comment on this note](http://via.hypothes.is/http://notes.benjaminreinhardt.com/General+purpose+technologies)