# Tech trees are intuitive The idea that technology is a recombinatorial hierarchical thing doesn’t have a single origin, which suggests that it’s an intuitive model. This is relevant because intuitive models often have ‘truthiness’ about them and are worth paying attention to. At the same time, intuitive models can lead you down inaccurate paths thanks to false analogies (like modeling the mind like a <clock, steam engine, digital computer>) [[Tech trees first showed up in the Civilization boardgame in 1980]] but [[There do not appear to be any intellectual connections between video game tech trees and history+philosophy of science+technology]] and the description of technology in [[arthurNatureTechnologyWhat2009]] is basically a tech tree as well. <!-- #stub --> [Web URL for this note](http://notes.benjaminreinhardt.com/Tech+trees+are+intuitive) [Comment on this note](http://via.hypothes.is/http://notes.benjaminreinhardt.com/Tech+trees+are+intuitive)