11 Matching Annotations
  1. Feb 2022
    1. It is thought that memories areformed via activation of post-synaptic NMDARs, which increasecalcium influx and initiate intracellular events that lead to geneexpression and synaptic strengthening

      Post-synaptic NMDAR activation is believed to be necessary for LTP to occur and for memories to be formed.

    2. To do this, mice underwent fear conditioning in two distinctcontexts in sequence (A followed by B). Our previous workshowed that memory for context A requires NMDAR activationwhile memory for context B does not. To examine the role ofmGluRs, we infused the group I/II antagonist MCPG into thehippocampus prior to learning in A or B.

      This procedure was done to determine whether mGluR activation occurring as a result of intrinsic excitability increase is the plasticity mechanism by which subsequent learning following initial learning happens in the absence of NMDAR activation.

    3. To examinethis idea, we tagged hippocampal neurons that were activated bycontext fear conditioning and determined if they were moreexcitable than non-tagged cells 2 days later. We also determined iftagged cells were reactivated when animals encoded a secondmemory 2 days after the first.

      This procedure was done to determine whether the intrinsic excitability of hippocampal neurons increases when learning subsequent information that builds on initially learned information. The point of this was to see whether plasticity mechanisms other than NMDA receptor activation are involved in subsequent learning that follows initial learning.

  2. Jan 2021
    1. By the nature of their profession, economists are often asked to expound on the appropriate role of government. In my opinion The Hand Behind the Invisible Hand provides us with a platform to discuss one of the most pressing issues of our time, namely the appropriate role of government.
    2. When any system is replaced by another, as in the Soviet system of command being replaced by a market system, the new system will require appropriate institutions. The dogmatic view on free markets is the view that such institutions would emerge of their own accord without the visible hand of government.
    3. free market argument. The belief that the emergence of such institutions requires deliberate planning amounts to the pragmatic free market argument. The requisite institutions have to be created by the visible hand of government.

      Further explanation of the difference behind pragmatic and dogmatic free market.

    4. Mittermaier asks the question, does the institutional setup also emerge spontaneously via an invisible hand? As the 1996 watershed year specification makes clear, a decision was made to insist on arrangements deliberated upon with an idea to prevent chaos. In other words, in terms of Mittermaier’s argument we could say that in the case of the Burning Man event, the hand behind the invisible hand is visible, which amounts to a pragmatic rather than a dogmatic stance on the emergence of the institutions involved.

      In the initial highlights I asked the question of what a pragmatic stance on the free market doctrine means and this highlights a general answer to my question.

    5. and institutional structures (street layout, fire prevention measures, moral codes etc) ensure that some sort of order prevails. The hand behind the invisible hand is visible.
    6. We have a means of identifying what an invisible hand is all about without necessarily using the terms invisible or visible. And should we find it more convenient to do so, we can associate an invisible hand argument with either a spontaneous (Hayek) or an unintended (Otteson) order.
    7. Suppose we identify an order in human affairs. On further investigation we ascertain that although the regularity came about as a result of human action, it did not arise from human deliberation.

      Part of ''Preparatory remarks on the concept of an invisible hand". It continues - In other words, the order did not arise from human design.

    8. The Hand Behind the Invisible Hand can be seen, in part, as an interpretation of Adam Smith’s An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (commonly referred to as The Wealth of Nations), which appeared in 1776.

      The main purpose of the book is to interpret the 18th century book of Adam Smith - An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (commonly referred to as The Wealth of Nations).