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How postmodernism became the universal scapegoat of the era – New Statesman

June 27, 2021 | Author: admin

In the slew of rightist culture-war bogeymen, from cultural Marxism to critical race theory, one of the most surprising candidates for obloquy is postmodernism.

In December 2020, the women and equalities minister Liz Trussbewailedpostmodernist philosophy pioneered by Foucault that put societal power structures and labels ahead of individuals and their endeavours. The malign influence of postmodernism, she suggested, had reached directly into working-class Leeds communities in the 1980s, where children were taught about racism and sexism but not how to read and write. Remarkably, then, the putative failures of education policy, above all the supposed failings of local authorities, weredown to20th-century French philosopher Michel Foucault.

To an extraordinary degree, postmodernism has become the universal scapegoat of the era, thebte noirof Resistance liberals, reactionaries, New Atheists and trademarked defenders of Reason. The irrational and incoherent fear of the pomo, or pomophobia, has claimed minds from across the political spectrum. According to the American literary critic Michiko Kakutani, postmodernism is responsible for the assault on knowledge and reason that allowed Donald Trump to lie his way into the White House.

The journalist Matthew DAncona claims that postmodern intellectuals have encouraged a toxic relativism by treating everything as a social construct, and so allowing fake news to thrive. YouTuber and clinical psychologist Jordan Petersonarguesthat postmodernism is the new skin for an old Marxism that seeks to subvert the West. In Petersons account, postmodernism is essentially the claim that all truths are relative, and all truth-claims are instruments of the struggle for power: Peterson calls this bastardised Nietzscheanism the resentful pathology of Marxism.

For New Atheists such as Richard Dawkins, postmodernism is aninsidious assault on reason and the scientific method, led by academic careerists. There was even a time, now passed, when muscular liberals such as Christopher Hitchens and David Aaronovitch blamed postmodern relativism for the lefts apparent softness towards dictators and Islamic fundamentalism, manifest in its opposition to the invasion of Iraq in 2003. While postmodernism peaked as a cultural trend in the early 1990s, it has now come to symbolise something corrosive, insidious and threatening to the social order.

***

Before asking what postmodernism is, it is worth clarifying what it isnt. Michel Foucault (1926-1984) did not pioneer postmodernism. He would not even have described himself as a postmodernist. In its post-Second World War inception, postmodern was principally an aesthetic category, referring to literary and architectural forms that superseded the formal ambition of modernism. Only in the 1970s did postmodernity acquire social and political content, inasmuch as the postmodern world was thought to be post-industrial, beyond class conflict, and increasingly beyond left and right. Far from exhorting a militant confrontation with societal power structures, early postmodernists tended to be sceptical of left-wing politics.

Nor did the postmodern style become more militant over time. The first major work using the term was Jean-Franois LyotardsThe Postmodern Condition(1979), the main concern of which was the collapse, in a post-industrial economy, of modernitys grand narratives of history. Lyotard celebrated this because he feared that these narratives, above all Marxism, were totalitarian. Lyotards sense of how meta-narratives were collapsing resonated with many left-wing intellectuals who had been formed by the uprisings of 1968 and their subsequent retreat.

In the ensuing faddish uptake of postmodernism, the work of philosophers such as Foucault and Jacques Derrida, and sometimes the psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan, was often cited as its intellectual antecedent because of the ways in which it challenged conventional views of the Enlightenment. Specifically, their work drew attention to the often subtle forms of power that were concealed in the trappings of reason and scientific advancement, and the ways in which colonialism, racism, sexism and class shaped the European idea of reason.

[see also:Deconstructing Jackie: How Jacques Derrida became one of the most influential thinkers in the world]

But the category of postmodernism was almost completely vacuous. It did not describe a single philosophical enterprise, political agenda or sociological outlook which could be identified and pilloried. At most, it described azeitgeist, an intellectual sensibility arising from the decline of industry, the rise of knowledge economies, mass consumerism and the crisis of Marxism. A sensibility that was pluralist, sceptical, resistant to any form of essentialism or reductivism, and in most cases politically accommodating.

This was particularly the case on Pariss Left Bank, where postmodern intellectuals such as Lyotard were likely to have been swayed by the violently anti-Marxist new philosophers who campaigned to stop the election of a union of the left French government that brought together the Socialist and Communist parties: a campaign that reached its hysterical zenith in the 1978 legislative elections. And as it filtered into US academia, postmodernism was far more likely to be associated with pragmatic left-liberals such as Richard Rorty than any militant tendency.

What, then, of the postmodern assault on reason? Whatever political direction the attack comes from, all seem to agree that postmodernism is essentially the claim that everything is relative, and everything is a social construct. Even the scientific method isnt politically neutral, and even reality is linguistically constructed.

This is not a wholly unreasonable conclusion to reach, owing to the way postmodernism aligned with two other intellectual trends that emerged in the 1970s and 1980s. The first was a pronounced culturalism, in which various philosophers and social scientists laid extraordinary emphasis on the organising role of culture and language in all areas of life, including our inherited notions of science, experimentation and truth. The second was scientific anti-realism. In the philosophy of science, realists assert that scientific theories are not just workable explanations for the data but are likely to be approximately true. And, as scientific endeavour progresses, these theories get ever closer to the truth.

Anti-realists, such as the US philosopher Hilary Putnam, dispute this. They argue that all scientific theories are underdetermined by the data, particularly when they relate to non-observable objects such asgenes, so there is no good reason to assume they are correct. Moreover, they draw a pessimistic inference from the fact that past scientific theories have usually been in some important ways false, to suggest that current theories are probably false too. Far from being an inherently unreasonable view, this position is usually grounded in empiricism and ahistoricist reading of scientific practices.

***

This is all academic and far from exciting, so anyone wanting to wage a culture war against postmodernism has to find an emotionally potent oversimplification that cuts through the complexity. Emblematic of the pomophobes approach is the enormous fuss they have made about a minor scandal in 1996 known as the Sokal hoax. Alan Sokal, a mathematician and physicist, used his authority as a scientist to get a hoax opinion article published in the cultural journalSocial Text. The premise of the hoax was that American academics were so intoxicated by trendy postmodern relativism that they would publish anything that expressed scepticism towards reality and the scientific method, no matter how absurd.

Since the hoax was revealed, the ersatz defenders of reason havent stopped guffawing. But the hoax was meaningless.Social Textwas not a postmodernist publication. The editors mistake was not being seduced by the articles pomo affectations it seems that they asked Sokal to remove most of this material, and he refused but their willingness to trust a credentialled expert to know his field and deal with them honestly. Even if the worst were true, it would tell us little about postmodernism. One lousy parody published in a small journal proves nothing. If it were a scientific experiment, it would be a dud.

It is, however, the titillation of scandal, of pointing out the emperors nudity, that licenses the cheerful ignorance and philistinism of the pomophobic backlash. For as little as the Sokal hoax did to advance knowledge, it became the basis of a book Sokalco-wrotewith the Belgian physicist Jean Bricmont, published in English asFashionable Nonsense(1997), attacking what they saw as the impostures of postmodern intellectuals. This was no better than yobbish jeering about inscrutable texts. In presenting examples of what it claimed as intellectual pretensionwhether Luce Irigarays feminist reading of science or Jacques Lacans use of mathemes in exposing his psychoanalytic methodthe book made minimal effort to understand them.

Yet while Sokal and Bricmont at least engaged with their opponents ideas at some level, many critics no longer feel the need to do so. It is sufficient for Kakutani, Peterson or Truss to knowingly mention the term postmodernism, for many people to assume they know what they are talking about. Recently, a number of right-wing culture war entrepreneurs have engaged in a similar credential-building exploitation of slightly obscure references. Consider conservative documentarian Christopher Rufo,who appeared on Fox Newsin September lastyear claiming to possess insider knowledge about the dangers posed by critical race theory, a gambit that worked because of his audiences clickbait-driven appetite for scandal. One might call it disinfotainment. The overall effect of this is to tranquillise thought, stifling curiosity with bullying appeals to the obvious. And as mathematician Gabriel Stolzenberg warned in the wake of Sokal, sometimes the obvious is the enemy of the true.

Most worrying of all, however, is the countersubversive edge of contemporary pomo-bashing. As with the attack on critical race theory, there is an element of shooting the messenger: blaming critical theory for the social problems it diagnoses. Where postmodern intellectuals such asJean Baudrillard have described a collapse of the reality principle as socialisation is measured by the exposure to media messages, pomophobes like DAncona have accused them of hastening this process.

The culture war against postmodernism is conducted in the spirit of inquisition, whether postmodernism is deemed an obscurantist attack on truth, or a neo-Marxist attempt to deconstruct the West (as right-wing Australian news anchor Chris Uhlmann once complained). The logic appears to be that these left-wing intellectuals are always complaining, criticising, dividing people and undermining our self-confidence. Theyre always doing us down. The crises in political trust, in traditional gender norms, in scientific consensus, and in the historical self-image and self-belief of modern states, are all the fault of these postmodernists, critical race theorists and cultural Marxists. If only something could be done about them.

[see also:The UK is immersed in a class-culture war and Labour is incapable of winning it]

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How postmodernism became the universal scapegoat of the era - New Statesman

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Philip Roth, Blake Bailey and publishing in the post-#MeToo era – The Guardian

June 27, 2021 | Author: admin

There was something dramatically overwrought about first the publication and then the pulping of Blake Baileys Philip Roth: The Biography. The themes, the moral issues and the ironies involved in the rise and fall of both the book and its author were all so conspicuously pointed, as if they had been conceived by a hack writer seeking to pay homage to a more skilled documenter of cultural conflict like, say, Roth himself.

First there was Baileys all-too-evident pride, bordering on hubris, at having landed the Roth gig. The last giant of American letters, Roth was in many respects a biographers dream a semi-reclusive enigma with a rich and disputed private life, a trove of disguised autobiographical fiction to unpack, and a genuine literary celebrity who was revered as a genius and reviled as a misogynist.

The problem was, like many novelists before him, Roth all too aware of the divergent opinions wanted to control his legacy. So he first recruited as his biographer a friend he thought pliable, Ross Miller, nephew of the playwright Arthur, but the arrangement twice came to an end after Roth criticised his research methods.

Roth even wrote a full-length book entitled Notes for My Biographer, mostly devoted to rebutting the allegations made by Roths former wife Claire Bloom in her incendiary memoir Leaving A Dolls House. He considered publishing the book then decided to keep it as an aid for his biographer. Roth offered the vacant role to several other friends, including the respected biographers Hermione Lee and Judith Thurman, neither of whom were available. In 2012, Bailey entered the picture. He didnt know Roth, but hed written three highly praised literary biographies, including works on Richard Yates and John Cheever.

Roth quizzed Bailey on why he should entrust his life, as it were, to a gentile from Oklahoma. According to the biographer, what sealed the deal was that, when Roth showed him a photograph album of his old girlfriends, Bailey mentioned Ali MacGraw, who starred in the film adaptation of Roths Goodbye, Columbus. Roth told the younger man that he could have dated her. When Bailey demanded to know why he hadnt, Roth replied: Youre hired.

Such anecdotal details would later take on smoking gun significance.

Baileys 900-page study was finally published earlier this year, three years after Roths death, and it garnered largely laudatory reviews Cynthia Ozick called it a narrative masterwork in the New York Times. The biographer couldnt hide his elation, appearing in interviews like a man who was joyfully in awe of his own achievement.

But there were ominous clouds gathering. A review in the New Republic depicted Roth as a bully, especially towards women, and a spiteful obsessive. Although the target was Roth, the reviewer, the magazines literary editor, Laura Marsh, noted that In Bailey, Roth found a biographer who is exceptionally attuned to his grievances and rarely challenges his moral accounting.

Ruth Franklin, biographer of the gothic horror writer Shirley Jackson, agrees. She was admonished by Bailey for being too feminist in her treatment of Jackson. As a result she declined to review the Roth biography, but she told me: The way that Bailey treats both of his [Roths] wives in the narrative is blatantly one-sided.

Again, if it had been in a novel, narrative alarm bells would have been loudly ringing. A month later, WW Norton, publisher of the biography in the US, announced that it was temporarily suspending the books shipping and promotion, as it emerged that Bailey faced allegations of sexual harassment and abuse, which he denies. A week later Norton confirmed that it was withdrawing the book from sale and pulping remaining copies. And Baileys representation was also terminated by his agency, the Story Factory.

Like almost everyone else involved, Norton does not want to discuss its decision. Franklin, who is herself published by Norton, remains confused by the move. I am not sure what they were trying to accomplish with this, she says.

Laura Marsh was also surprised by Norton.

I dont know if its unprecedented, she says, but certainly there arent a lot of other examples I can think of of a publisher doing that. And none of the people who spoke to the newspapers called [for the books withdrawal].

But she doesnt necessarily think the publisher was wrong. It is probably too soon to have an opinion on whether it was the right decision, she says.

The man who had originally commissioned Bailey, the vice-president of Norton, Matt Weiland, wrote to me that he was leaving it to others to speak about these matters.

The book was then snapped up in America by Skyhorse Publishing, which is also the publisher of Woody Allens autobiography, Apropos of Nothing, which was dropped by Hachette in the US after a staff walkout. Baileys UK publisher, Vintage, announced that it was not withdrawing the book but would continue assessing the situation closely.

No one at Vintage or its parent company Penguin Random House wants to say any more than that. Editors and publishers at PRH, including one who has left, wont even speak off the record. One agent told me that shed heard that the decision was announced to staff in an online meeting that came with a trigger warning.

Whats clear from the silence is that withdrawing the book, and also not withdrawing it, are hugely sensitive issues. They plug into a range of contemporary debates about censorship, moral responsibility, freedom of expression, corporate governance, social justice, due process, workplace safety, and the ongoing critique of so-called toxic masculinity, among others.

Its for these reasons, says a leading agent, that the books withdrawal has put everyone [in the industry] on edge. It sets a precedent and adds increased pressure in an already fraught atmosphere around issues of cancellation.

One publisher, who asked to remain anonymous, describes a climate in which younger members of publishing staff, emboldened by social justice campaigns and their own sense of responsibility and power, are driving organisations to make symbolic stands.

Its an absolute intergenerational conflict in media organisations between the under-40s and the over-40s, he says. The distinction really is between social media natives who dont really treasure free speech because theyve had a lifetimes worth and think its overrated, and people of an older generation who didnt have access to the means of cultural production and needed the patronage of newspapers and publishing houses to get their voices heard.

He believes that these factors played a part in Allens book cancellation at Hachette, and led Simon & Schuster to be accused of perpetuating white supremacy for striking a deal to publish former vice-president Mike Pence. Simon & Schuster successfully resisted internal pressure to drop Pence, just as Penguin in the UK did not give into demands by some of its staff to tear up its contract with the controversial academic and author Jordan Peterson.

In Allens case the picture was complicated by the fact that Hachette was also the publisher of his son and most outspoken critic, Ronan Farrow, something of a hero to millennials for his work on exposing sexual abuse in the film industry. But what does Baileys story tell us about the battle lines and what kind of benchmark does the books withdrawal establish?

Many, including Laura Marsh, espouse the theory that the withdrawal was Nortons belated attempt to overcompensate for an earlier error. The most serious accusation against Bailey is one of rape, and it stems from a meeting between Bailey, who is 57, and a publishing executive named Valentina Rice, 47, that took place at the home of the New York Times literary critic Dwight Garner in 2015. Both Bailey and Rice stayed over and, according to Rices account, Bailey entered her room and had non-consensual sex with her. The biographer has strenuously denied this version of events.

Rice decided not to report the incident but three years later, galvanised by the #MeToo movement, she sent an email, under a pseudonym, to the president of Norton, Julia Reidhead, accusing Bailey of rape. Reidhead did not respond, but a week later Bailey wrote to Rice, having been forwarded the pseudonymous email, and rebutted her allegations while pleading with her to think of his wife and young daughter, because such a rumour, he wrote, even untrue, would destroy them.

It seems that Norton did ask Bailey about the allegations but he said they were false, and they left it there, without getting back to the woman who claimed to be the victim.

Norton made a big mistake there, says another agent. They should have written back [to the woman] in the first instance, clearly stating that it was a criminal matter which needed to be investigated by the appropriate authorities.

So when the rape accusation surfaced after the Roth biographys publication, along with multiple claims that Bailey had inappropriate relations with his students when he was a schoolteacher, and the allegation that he raped his former student Eve Crawford Peyton in 2003, Norton reacted.

There is obviously an important principle of due process and innocence until proven guilty at stake here. Even if the accusations relating to Bailey were all true and he has denied that they are should that affect our appreciation of his work, and whether or not it ought to be withdrawn from sale? If, for example, the designer of a vacuum cleaner was discovered to have a history of sexual abuse, would that vacuum cleaner be taken off the shelves?

Of course a book is a different kind of object or artefact from a domestic appliance, but does it occupy a category that is indivisible from its creator? Its not as though Baileys book was a memoir about his sexual conquests, but it was a book that discusses someone elses sexual conquests Roths and in terms that might often seem loaded in Roths favour. Would the book have been withdrawn had its subject been Henry James or Emily Dickinson, to name two famously sexually restrained authors?

It looks as though theyve got two for one here, says British novelist Howard Jacobson. In a curious kind of way its been a means of censoring Philip Roth while not censoring Philip Roth.

Though a longtime admirer of Roths writing, Jacobson has no wish to read the biography, having spent too much time in Roths head over the past 50 years.

I met him a couple of times, he says. He was horrible the whole time. Everything I ever heard about him suggests he was a thoroughly horrible man.

But about Nortons decision to respond to the accusations against Bailey by withdrawing the book, Jacobson is adamant: I dont care what he is accused of, the man could be rotting in prison for having committed every crime under the sun, including going on anti-Israel marches which of course is the worst crime of all in my book, and theyre still entitled to write a book and theyre still entitled to have that book read. And its not the job of the publisher to censor the life of the person who writes the book.

Jacobsons position is a version of the traditional free speech case, in which the art and the artist are never conflated, and the moral judgment of the latter is not placed on the former. The merits of this argument are not hard to see. It means that students of history can read Mein Kampf without it meaning that they are supporters of Adolf Hitler. And the bookshelves dont have to be filleted of books by various disreputable, unpleasant, criminal or, by todays standards, morally reproachable people.

To take just one example, Darkness At Noon is seen as a classic work of fiction, hauntingly capturing the terror of the Soviet purges. Its author, Arthur Koestler, was accused of being a serial rapist whose victims included Jill Craigie, the feminist film-maker and wife of former Labour leader Michael Foot. It shows how times have changed that when Craigies accusation surfaced at the turn of the century in David Cesaranis study of Koestler, the author Frederic Raphael argued that Craigie knew the novelists character, and may have been excited by the risk[s] she was taking.

The abuse of women was (if it is not still) a certificate of virility in many great men, wrote Raphael, concluding: If we dispraise famous men, who is to be spared?

The latter sentiment was echoed by another British novelist, who reserved his real ire for Cesaranis prurience and biographical opportunism. Such attitudes foreshadowed Roths own growing preoccupation with posthumous reassessment, which he fictionalised in 2007s Exit Ghost. His alter ego Nathan Zuckerman takes a sensationalist biographer to task for exposing a novelist named Lonoffs incestuous affair with his half-sister:

So youre going to redeem Lonoffs reputation as a writer by ruining it as a man. Replace the genius of the genius with the secret of the genius.

A bust of Koestler was removed from display at Edinburgh University, but no one considered then or now removing his books. The truth is that any kind of retrospective moral inventory of authors would leave libraries and backlists with a lot of empty spaces. In philosophy, Martin Heidegger was a Nazi and Louis Althusser killed his wife. In American literature, William Burroughs killed his wife and Norman Mailer stabbed his second wife, almost killing her, at a party.

The implication in the Vintage statement about assessing the situation was that if the story developed, its stance might change, and Baileys book could be withdrawn.

Im told by a number of people in publishing that this would be a popular move with many of those under 40 in the industry, who often feel underrepresented in corporate decisions. But if that is the case, I could find no young publisher who was prepared to voice that opinion, even anonymously, and I approached half a dozen radical voices as well as the Society of Young Publishers. A typical response I received read: While I have my own opinions on this, I do not feel it is my place to comment.

Its as if these supposed would-be book censors are said to be everywhere and yet, like a chimera, on closer inspection vanish into thin air. Nonetheless one agent is so despairing of the censorial attitudes she regularly encounters that she told me that, along with unconscious bias training, she would like to see young recruits given training in civil liberties.

You know, she says, freedom of speech and the marketplace of ideas. They dont seem to have any respect for these things.

Toby Mundy is a former publisher who now runs his own agency. He lets out a knowing laugh when I mention this suggestion.

Our industry has been right to promote diversity, he says, not just within organisations but also in terms of the voices being heard. The mistake has been not to combine diversity with pluralism.

The counterargument is that any kind of pluralism that involves white supremacy and misogyny is unacceptable but, of course, who defines what constitutes these terms? In any case, surely a publishing house isnt under obligation to buy books by people of whose opinions and character it disapproves. Thats not censorship; its simply the exercise of discriminating taste.

Jacobson agrees, but argues that if the taste is shaped by a monotonous chorus of young people then its unlikely to allow for anything but the most tightly prescribed viewpoints.

If I was a publisher now, he says, I would say the whole lot of you need a course. This is what literature does. If it displeases you, good. Its job is not to make you feel better or to appeal to you. The fact that you dont like it is 100% irrelevant.

Thats probably not a message that is going to be widely adopted as policy. Ruth Franklin suggests that the most egregious problem with cancellation is the arbitrariness of its enforcement. Theres no way to flush out every writer whos committed a wrongdoing or a crime, so the people who are getting punished for it are those who are unfortunate enough to get caught.

Thats often the way with crime and punishment, but Franklin believes that it really comes down to economics, and the potential comeback. I think its a fear of reprisals for supporting somebody who does not appear to be worthy of our support.

Indeed the key factor in publishing decisions when it comes to controversy, as elsewhere in life, is often money. Had Peterson been a mid-ranking author rather than a bestseller, the internal protests against him at PRH would probably have had much more chance of success. The same can be said of JK Rowling, whose tweeting habits regarding transgender and gender critical issues have led to her being denounced by a generation of appalled fans, including some of the actors shed helped make famous.

But her publisher, Hachette, which had swiftly dropped Allen, told its staff that it could not refuse to work on her books, because it would run contrary to their belief in free speech. As one publisher put it: Theres always a commercial decision to be made at the bottom of every publication. Youre always measuring the cost, not just the financial cost of producing a book, paying in advance, promoting it, distributing it, but also the cost to your staff of servicing the author and the difficulty of that.

In theory, rejected or dropped authors can always go somewhere else. There is the plurality, after all, of the marketplace. In America, there is a wide political spectrum of publishing houses, although the most esteemed tend to be liberal. In the UK, its a slightly narrower environment, and the choice is more often between well-known publishers and obscure outfits just a step up from self-publishing. The freedom to step outside the liberal mainstream is curtailed only by the desire to be noticed and, perhaps, paid.

Will all the allegations affect Baileys ability to find a major publisher for whatever his next work is? As another publisher said to me: If he sent in a proposal tomorrow for a biography of Don DeLillo, I dont think many publishers would be rushing to buy it.

Bailey has apparently returned to Oklahoma, the state in which he grew up and about which he wrote, rather unfavourably, in his memoir The Splendid Things We Planned, which Norton has also withdrawn. In that book he detailed a difficult relationship he had with his brother, Scott, an alcoholic and heroin user, who rebelled against his bourgeois background and set out on an increasingly dysfunctional path, leading eventually to suicide.

Youre gonna be just like me, a drunken Scott warned his younger brother at one point. Youre gonna be worse.

Bailey has always had the humility to refer to himself as a flawed person, though what the flaws refer to beyond his own youthful tendency to get drunk and misbehave, he hasnt spelled out. He has told friends that, whatever his faults, he is avowedly not a rapist.

Somewhere behind all the accusations and denials, there remains a 900-page biography of Philip Roth. Its a fascinating if depressing read, because despite Baileys obvious admiration for his subject, Roth comes across as a vain, prickly and ultimately lonely man. Having devoted himself first to literature and second to the sexual pursuit of women, he ended up being terrified of what his posthumous reputation would be.

I dont want you to rehabilitate me, he told Bailey. Just make me interesting.

The pitch-black irony is that its the biographer who is in need of rehabilitation, and all his considerable literary efforts to do justice to Roth as a brilliant and complicated human being have been somewhat undermined by the allegations about his own behaviour towards women. Roths writerly injunction to himself was to let the repellent in, by which he meant not to avoid the dark side of human nature. The accusation against Bailey is that he let the repellent out.

One effect of this strange blurring or complicity between biographer and subject is to make the book compelling evidence in the case that says Roth, notwithstanding his respectful friendships with and generosity towards a number of formidable females, was a man who was cruel and controlling to rather too many women.

Its a book, in other words, that for many reasons, not all of them edifying, deserves to be read rather than withdrawn. One of them is that it tells us a great deal about its subject but also quite a lot about its author too.

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Keep safety in mind when cooling off in the Willamette River – KGW.com

June 27, 2021 | Author: admin

There are almost a dozen swimming spots for many different abilities along the river, accessible by bike, walking or public transportation.

PORTLAND, Ore As temperatures heat up this weekend, the local nonprofit Human Access Project is pushing the Willamette River as the perfect place to cool off.

"When its hot out, we want to cool off , the Willamette River is a lovely 73 degrees, its going to be the perfect temperature to make this heat more manageable," said Willie Levenson, ringleader at the nonprofit.

The DEQ and the city of Portland test the water in the river each week and results are posted online. The latest show the E.coli count at 22, well below the unsafe level of 406.

There are almost a dozen swimming spots scattered along the river, accessible by bike, walking or public transportation. One of those is the Kevin Duckworth dock, off the Eastbank Esplanade.

"This is definitely an advanced place to swim," said Levenson. "It is 25 feet deep here so theres no opportunity to touch the bottom." The group added eight swim ladders at the dock last year and have plan to add bike racks in a few weeks.

Other places include the Ledge, where people can jump off of a rock. For swimmers who are not quite ready to jump off the Ledge, Levenson recommends Poet's Beach. He says it's great for beginner swimmers because they can gradually get into the water.

If you dont feel comfortable swimming, you really should not get in past your waist," said Levenson.

His other safety reminders include swimming with a friend ,which is not a problem for the Willamette River Huggers. A group that swims every Wednesday and Friday. Their favorite spot is off the dock at station 21, which along with the other sites will be a popular place to beat the heat this weekend.

"So lets keep our beautiful river in mind as a cooling option for people in Portland who like to swim," said Levenson.

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10 UK retreats to re-energise mind, body and soul – The Guardian

June 27, 2021 | Author: admin

Reconnect with nature in Devon

On historic Dartington estate in the South Hams, Schumacher College offers a range of short retreats aimed at helping people deepen their relationship with nature. Gardening as a Spiritual Practice, in July, is led by Emma Clark, an expert in Islamic garden design, and the colleges co-founder, Satish Kumar, a former monk. In workshops and garden time, participants explore the relationship between gardens, civilisation and the soul. Theres also daily qigong and veggie meals. Small, single rooms have shared bathrooms. 8-11 July, from 625pp for 3 nights all-inclusive, schumachercollege.org.uk

Yoga on a Shoestring now offers relaxing breaks at Blyth Rise Stays, which has wooden huts and lodges both with colourful interiors around a lake and wildflower meadow near the village of Laxfield. Theres twice-daily yoga on the outdoor wooden platform or lakeside, meals are served in a tipi, and in between guests can take walks in the countryside and visit nearby beaches. Theres plenty of time to do nothing, and there are also two saunas. Runs 30 August-3 September with yoga teacher Sunita Devi, or 3-6 September with yoga teacher Tania Brown. From 725pp for 3 nights all-inclusive, yogaonashoestring.com

Wonderment offers an inclusive, family-friendly wellness festival in September in a woodland glade on the Wasing Park Estate near Aldermaston. A programme of wellbeing activities by day turns into a festival at night, with music, cabaret and DJs. Whether youre dancing, drumming, doing yoga or wild swimming in the lake, its all designed to inspire reflection, connection and creativity. Camp, stay in a bell tent or enjoy the luxury of a cottage in the grounds. Everything is optional, and theres a forest school for kids. Wonderment is also running a new LGBT-focused wellness festival, Soul Pride, from 8-12 July. 16-19 September, from 350pp, 7-18 years 90, under-6 free, wondermentretreats.com

A calming boutique retreat at Hartwith near Harrogate, Acorn Wellness is a not-for-profit business that uses its funds to support cancer patients. But anyone looking for deep rest and downtime can come for day retreats, pop-up events and overnight retreats. Views over the rolling fields of Nidderdale are postcard-pretty, and all guests have the use of a sauna and steam room and can book massages. Healing Day Retreats run regularly and include yoga, visualisations and gong baths, as well as use of the spa. 155pp for a day retreat, including lunch and refreshments , acornwellness.co.uk

In the countryside near Biddenden, Stede Court private fitness retreat offers solo and private bubble retreats created by A-list personal trainer Kathryn Freeland. Billed as ideal for anyone who needs to recharge and remotivate, each retreat is bespoke and can include Hiit sessions, yoga and meditation, sauna sessions, dips in the swimming pond and oodles of rest. Meals are healthy and accommodation is in the characterful Grade-II listed house. From 500 for up to 6 people for a full-day retreat,stedecourtprivatefitnessretreat.co.uk

The new ReEmerge Retreat at Middle Piccadilly, a rural haven near Sherborne, uses shamanic practices and other healing activities to help bring guests back into balance and heal any trauma, grief, stress, illness or relationship issues that might have come to the surface during the pandemic. Other post-lockdown packages are available. The retreat is held in a 17th-century thatched cottage with five simple, calming bedrooms, and all meals are vegetarian. Book dates to suit. From 500pp for 3 nights, middlepiccadilly.com

A Walking Your Promise retreat, in the forest and open grassland near 305-metre May Hill, proposes a deep dive into nature. Leader Danny Shmulevitch draws on his experiences growing up in the Sinai desert and living with the semi-nomadic Sawad tribe, and aims to teach guests how to connect to themselves by learning how to think through the heart rather than over-think with the brain. Stays pivot on a day of fasting and quiet contemplation, and accommodation is in a private, candlelit den that looks out on to the forest on one side, and is closed for privacy on the other. Two- or three-day retreats can be taken alone or in a closed bubble. From 295pp for two days all-inclusive, dannyshmulevitch.com

Cleanse and relax year round at Homefield Grange, a wellness retreat in a converted dairy and sheep farm near Kettering. Come to learn about your body, diet and nutrition and establish a lifestyle or behavioural change. There are various packages to choose from, including the Weekend Body Detox, with rasul mud therapy and massage, and the Mind Body Restorer, designed to help build resilience against stress and anxiety while boosting the immune system. Hypnotherapy, neuro-linguistic programming, wellness and lifestyle coaching, and nutritional consultations are all available, too. From 649pp for the two-night Weekend Body Detox, with either a juice cleanse or plant-based meals, homefieldgrangeretreat.co.uk

Improving health and happiness through making art is the ethos behind the remarkable Curious House, which offers a range of one- and two-day creative retreats with inspirational teachers at a boutique pub, The Bell in Ticehurst. Hone your skills and build confidence without judgment on courses in everything from oil painting, collage and mixed-media to sculpting with wire and painting lampshades. Theres good food, like-minded company and time to yourself, too. Next course, 5-6 July, is Printing and Collage, from 240pp B&B for a one-day course, curioushouse.net

Celebrate newfound freedom in the great outdoors, but still be super-comfortable, on a new Yoga and Wilderness Weekend in the Highlands. Featuring daily Jivamukti yoga, plant-based food and nights around the campfire sharing stories, it also includes time for wild swims in lochs and a four-hour guided hike in the Cairngorms. Sleep in peaceful riverside cottages and enjoy the outdoor hot tub and sauna. Massages can be booked, too. 27-30 August, from 675 for 3 nights all-inclusive, reclaimyourself.co.uk

Caroline Sylger Jones is a journalist and founder of Queen of Retreats

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Matters of the Mind: Recruiting the body mind and soul for relief from emotional tumult – The Indian Express

June 27, 2021 | Author: admin

Alongside deeper cognitive work, we need a few to-dos as a routine, a checklist, more rigour and more investment to help prevent further deterioration or progression of melancholia, anxiety, grief, frustration and most importantly support remission. Following is a list that can be printed and used as a reminder in times such as these to help us cope when we all understand that self-work and health are important but often find ourselves on the slippery slope of stress and sickness. A handy few tools to help us hold on, find and build on strengths and keep well.

Body (Behavioural)*Practice meditation. Choose a focal point (visual imagery, sounds, tactile) and sustain the silence.

*Breathwork. Find a simple sustainable breathing practice that resonates. A simple energy and mood lifter is: inhale deeply through the nose for four counts, exhale through the mouth for six counts.

*Yoga, exercise, walk, treadmill, cross trainer, spot jog, whatever gets you sweating.

*Have a disciplined routine and productive clear goals for the day.

Mind (Cognitive)*Focus on the present. If your mind wanders into future worries or past regrets, it is okay, bring it back to the present moment. Recognise the present and orient yourself in the moment. Practice being in the now.

*Accept the agitation, worry, angst, discomfort as normal and do not judge yourself for experiencing these. The experience and its manifestations become negative or intolerable because we label them so. We must allow such experiences to unfold as they do, without labels on them or ourselves for having to go through it or not being able to prevent it; it is not the experience that is negative, it is our self-talk that is.

*Accept a lack of control as part of a good, healthy happy life and not as an uncertain, scary or out-of-control life. A high need for control is often the cause of significant emotional pain. Being aware and accepting of life having an element of the unknown, enriches us with a growth mindset, spontaneity, curiosity and resilience.

*Allow the difficult emotion to tell you something about yourself. Our emotions are a result of our self-dialogue. The inner voice we each havethat is the source of meanings, perceptions and significance of stimuli for us. Becoming aware of this self-talk can help us become self-aware, how we think, the meanings we are choosing of events, the perceptions we make of people. Self-awareness is the place where we can all take notes for growth, rationality and improvement.

Soul (Spiritual)* The soul is hungry for learning and growth. These lessons have to be seeded out. Look at distress, challenges and pain as trying to give you a message, trying to teach you something that you would learn only this way.

*Be gentle and loving towards yourself. While busy with a thousand things in a day, one forgets to be compassionate to the core of ones own being, the self. Our demands and expectations take us down a road, away from awakening to our reality, authenticity, who we are. Reminding ourselves of tenderness towards the self is a crucial daily spiritual goal.

*Forgiveness is a remarkable virtuefor the self, for all the mistakes we make, for all the times we fall. Why I do not insist on forgiving others is because I do not believe I am in any such grand position to do so. I am no one to approve, disapprove, begrudge or forgive anyone.

*To practice oneness with all. Being one with ourselves first, then others we see, those we do not see or hear and further with the community and the world has a profound impact on our mind and health. Absorbing the enormity of our existence but also our mere atomic significance, our collective compounded strength and yet the humility to know our minuscule impact, to love others and add value to others as a service for ourselves are just some deep and meaningful nourishers for the soul.

*A daily gratitude practice keeps us aware of all the good things in our life. This can be practiced anywhere, anytime, verbally, mentally or by writing in a journal.

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‘You weep and then you try to determine how to help’: Families, worshippers cling to hope after Florida condo building collapse – USA TODAY

June 27, 2021 | Author: admin

A security camera captured the moment a condo partially collapsed in Surfside, a town near Miami, Florida. USA TODAY

BAY HARBOR ISLANDS, Fla. Over at Church by the Sea in Bay Harbor Islands, a more than 5-minute drive from the fallen Champlain Towers condo complex,Charlie Newton bowed his head in prayer for the missing and the dead.

Foremost on his mind were Arnie and Myriam Notkin, an older couple who lived on the third floor and who remain unaccounted for after the collapse.

Arnie Notkin, a former physical education teacher at Fienberg-Fischer K-8 Center, was a friend of his parents. When Newton grew older, he and Notkin served together on the board of directors for the Miami Beach Police Athletic League.

Everyone knows Arnie Notkin, said Newton, 50, of Surfside, Florida.They may not know his wife, but they know him. He asserted himself into peoples conversations, but he was very friendly. He wasnt arrogant or anything. He was very nice, and everybody liked him. He was always willing to go the extra mile to help somebody.

The devoted physical education teacher, who had a love for the Miami Dolphins, liked to introduce students to all kinds of sports.

He loved to teach, Newton said. He loved to show you how to play something. When youre a teacher, whether youre a PE teacher or a math teacher, you love to share your knowledge.

Inside the church office chapel, worshippers helped each other light white candles to honor the missing and the dead. With tears in their eyes, some joined the chorus in singing "Amazing Grace."

I had to dig down deep and try not to allow my emotions to get the best of me, Newton said. Im trying to be strong for other people around me. I'm sure if somebody would have lost it in there, we all would have lost it.

The death toll rose by just four people, to a total of nine confirmed dead. But after almost four full days of search-and-rescue efforts, more than 150 additional people were still missing, authorities said.

'He was a peacemaker. He was a joy': What we know about those missing in the Miami condo building collapse

Before and after look: Champlain Towers South, the Florida building that partially collapsed

The awful wait for news of the missing weighed even on those without a connection to them.

I personally did not know anybody in the building, but I certainly am good friends with a lot of people that did, Rev. Robert Asinger said. So it becomes not just a building collapse. It becomes about Bill or Fred or whoever it is. And it makes it very personal.

Struck with an urge to help, reverends told almost 40 worshippers that the church had opened a disaster relief fund with $20,000.

When Parkland happened and when Pulse happened, we prayed but there was a distance, Rev. Barbara Asinger said. I think that's how we survive as human beings. We create distance because we hear so much these days. When you can't do that anymore, you weep. You weep and then you try to determine how to help.

Sergio Lozano had dinner with his parents, Gladys and Antonio Lozano, when they said their goodbyes and retreated to their respective condominiums in different towers of the same complex, the Champlain Towers condo complex in Surfside.

Startled by a loud boom, Sergio Lozano stepped out into his balcony and was hit by a staggering sight: billowing smoke and night sky where his parents condo building once stood.

USA TODAY's Romina Ruiz-Goiriena shares her experience on the ground covering the condo collapse in Surfside, Florida. USA TODAY

My wife was walking behind me because she was going to help me bring in the patio furniture, he told WPLG-TV in Miami. And I tell her, Lola, the buildings not there. Shes yelling and saying, What do you mean? I go, My parents apartment is not there. Its gone!

Family members of residents of the collapsed 12-story building staggered in and out of a family reunification center on Sunday trying to make sense of the tragedy.The family members left DNA samples to identify relatives remains and gleaned scraps of information on rescue efforts.

Others clung to hope that rescue teams could still pull survivors from the wreckage. Ashley Dean, traveled fromLouisianato Surfside over the weekend to see if her younger sister, Cassie Stratton, had survived the collapse.

Stratton was on the phone with her husband, Michael, when the building shook then collapsed, Dean told media outlets. She let out a scream as she plunged toward the earth. Stratton remains unaccounted for.

Its been extremely agonizing. Its been painful. Its very confusing, Dean told New Orleans WVUE-TV. Its almost unbelievable.

For years, Antonio and Gladys Lozano would bicker over who would go first.

In the end, they departed at the same time. The elderly couple, who would have celebrated their 59th anniversary next month, died together in the tower collapse.

Miami-Dade Police recovered their bodies one day apart from each other in the rubble of the South condominium tower, the agency said.

Toward the back of the church office chapel inBay Harbor Islands, unlit candles dotted a wooden table. Before Becky Bosch left the room, a gentle flame had been set to most of them.

It impacts you, even if you dont know the people who live there, said Bosch, 52, of Surfside. "I've been in that building. I dropped my son off when he was little to go see friends there. I lived right across the street from there on 90th. Its a very peaceful corner. It's beautiful.

As efforts to pull survivors from the rubble continue, her sonfound strength in prayer.

"I know the whole community would want to be there," saidAaron Bosch, 22. "I know everybody would want to be there picking up rubble, but it's not that easy. I think the best thing we can do right now is pray."

SergioLozanosaid his parents would have celebrated their 59th anniversary on July 21 and had known each other for more than 60 years. The son said that his parents had joked that neither wanted the other one to pass away first because they didnt want to be without each other.

Sergio said if he was to find solace, it is that if they did not survive the collapse, that they went together and went quickly, according to WPLG-TV.

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Contributing: Emily Bloch, USA TODAY; The Associated Press.

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Danielle Lao Gets Back to Wimbledon, and Makes the Most of It – The New York Times

June 27, 2021 | Author: admin

Inspired, Lao pushed on and qualified in singles for the 2017 U.S. Open and, just as importantly, the 2018 U.S. Open.

The pandemic, which shut down the tour for several months, could have knocked Lao out of it. Instead, she bought a stationary bike, assembled it with her sister, and focused on fitness before returning to the court and the tour.

After struggling in her recent tournaments, she arrived at Roehampton for Wimbledon qualifying with her new traveling coach, the tour player Irina Falconi. Lao settled into a deep groove and found herself up 6-3, 4-1 on Ursula Radwanska in the final round of qualifying.

I started to think, oh my goodness, Im so close to Wimbledon, its right there, she said.

This time, she calmed her mind and closed out the final set, 6-2. After watching Sampras tear up at Wimbledon, Lao can now relate.

When I sat down, I covered my face with a towel a little bit, Lao said. But when Irina and my boyfriend came around, I was, like, they cant see me cry. The tournaments not over yet, and this was a straight setter. This is embarrassing. But that evening, I was thinking about it and joking with them, and I told them, It took 23 years to get here guys, but we made it!

Win or lose on Monday, one journey is complete.

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Bernie Rabik: Is Age Only a Number? – The Times

June 27, 2021 | Author: admin

By Bernie Rabik| Special to The Times

Phil Mickelson just won the PGAChampionship at age 50. Tom Brady won the Super Bowl at 43. Serena Williams is a top tennis star at 39. Joe Biden entered the presidency at 78. Bob Dylan released an excellent album at 79. US Sen.Mitch McConnell, Republican minority leader, is 79. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, is 82. Pope Francis is 84.

America is showing its age. Somewhere along the way, a once-new nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal (not men and women; that came later) became a wheezy gerontocracy. Our leaders, our electorate, and our hallowed system government itself are extremely old.

Let me stipulate at the outset that I harbor no prejudice toward the elderly. As a septuagenarian myself, Im fully mindful of the scourge of ageism.

Why should we care how old our leaders are? It is widely accepted that cognitive functioning declines dramatically on average after age 70, and the types of intelligence which decline most sharply on average are the capacity to absorb large amounts of new information and data in a short time span and apply it to solve problems in unaccustomed fashion.

None of this means a septuagenarian cant function effectively as a political leader. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell are 82 and 79, respectively, and by all reports, they are operating at peak mental capacity. But to affirm that not all elderly people are impaired cognitively is very different from affirming that none is.

Even the healthy older brain is, well, different from the healthy younger brain; and, if you care about politics, thats worth making some effort to understand. Certain tasks are just harder as you get older, even if youre very smart. Your mental reflexes are slower. It takes longer to remember someones name. Multitasking is more challenging. Learning foreign languages is more difficult, and adjusting to unfamiliar cultures is perhaps a bit harder. You can overcome these obstacles if you make some effort, but not everybody, not even all American leaders, makes the effort.

The most important compensating benefit to old age is wisdom, which comes from experience. When youre making decisions that affect others, its much better to have a deep well of experience to draw on than to maintain the mental reflexes of an auctioneer. Wisdom may be more valuable in the digital age than ever before, because the velocity of information and normative judgments on social media, cable news, and elsewhere constantly threaten to make glib idiots of us all.

But heres the rub: The aging of Americans ruling class doesnt automatically increase its experience level. In presidential politics, notes Brookings Institution senior fellow Jonathon Rauch, political experience, which used to be a selling point, has become a liability. Voters and the public have come to see experience as inauthenticity.

In a November 2015Atlantic article, Rauch plotted the experience level for presidential candidates from 1960 to 2012. His graph showed a clear increase in the experience level among the losers and a corresponding decrease among the winners. Gerald Ford lost to Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush won with more political experience than Michael Dukakis, but four years later lost to Bill Clinton, who had less. John McCain lost to Barack Obama, whod been in national politics a mere four years.

Donald Trump entered the Oval Office with no political experience at all. The single greatest mental compensation which age provides was therefore unavailable to the oldest president in American history.

To be sure, you know that aging will likely cause wrinkles and gray hair. An individuals observation of old age is not flattering, but Winston Churchill refused to acknowledge that. In 1954, the English artist Graham Sutherland was commissioned to paint a full-length portrait of Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill. Finding the depiction deeply unflattering, Churchill disliked the portrait intensely. Sutherland stated to Churchill that old age is never kind to anyone growing old.

Churchill complained that the portrait made him look like a down-and-out drunk who has been picked out of the gutter. Sutherland maintained that he painted the prime minister as he truly saw him.

But in many cases, the flip side of physical longevity is cognitive decline. People may be living longer and heathier lives, but we havent figured out how to include brain health in that equation.

Once I am ready, I hope that my dear ones will help me depart with dignity, prevent me from being a burden to others, surround me with music, Mozart and Bethoven preferably, and celebrate the end of my life with a smile, recalling the abundant good memories we shared. Ultimately, how I get through this will be my faith.

Mark Twain was right in writing: Age is an issue of mind over matter.

Bernard J. Rabik, a Hopewell Township attorney, is an opinion columnist for The Times.

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Incapable? Yes, Artificial Intelligence Can’t Do These Things! – Analytics Insight

June 27, 2021 | Author: admin

Artificial intelligencehas put the future of technology on a high pedestal. In the digital world,artificial intelligenceis already capable of doing several things that humans can do. The technology can helprobotsdraw your picture amazingly, write a poem for you, click pictures, do house chores, etc. In a nutshell,artificial intelligence is turning to be humans in the 21st century. However, all is not working out in its favor. If we look closely atAI technology, we can see there are some things thatartificial intelligence cant do.

Humans started working on technology with the thought to make something as capable as him/them. Although we are not in a full-fledged situation to enjoy such luxury, today, artificial intelligencecan do a lot of tasks that humans dreamed of. Moving on to the future,AI researcherspredict a period whenrobotscould walk, talk, and have perfect human qualities. Even now, half of them are already happening and some are in progress. However, we dont know if we are awaiting a future where humans and machines work together orrobotsbring an apocalypse to take over human society. There is no doubt we have had many ground-breaking advancements in machine learning, cloud computing, robotics, quantum computing, etc. Unfortunately,artificial intelligencejust isnt there yet. There are many things, thatartificial intelligence cant dofor humankind or society. In a world filled with AI punditry and hysterical fearmongering, separatingartificial intelligencefrom fiction can be a tough task indeed. That is why Analytics Insight has phrased out some things thatartificial intelligence cant dodespite its increasing dominance and unconditional development.

A major aspect where artificial intelligence falls behind humans is in using common sense. Although robots are capable of doing what man is incapable of, such as labor intense jobs and working in dangerous circumstances, artificial intelligence is still no competition to humans intellect. Machines can even make wise decisions and help humans make the right choice, but when things get twisted, robots entangle in confusion. For example, if we say A woman went shopping. She bought a beautiful dress. She left the place with a big smile. If asked what the woman shopped, a human would instantly say a beautiful dress. But answering these simple questions is very difficult for artificial intelligence.

Humans can automatically grasp the concept in real-time, but machines are not wise enough to use their common sense and answer in such situations. Besides, humans have lived through times. So, we know what is necessary for a circumstance and what is not. But machines are just fed with data that were run on humans, which can be complicated. Robots cant get things straight through those datasets and acting to situations in real-time is real trouble for artificial intelligence.

Humans are gifted with a sixth sense that makes us different from other living beings. However, despite the improvements that AI researchers have made, robots are still incapable of caring for humans or fellow robots and machines. For example, the Australian government uses a chatbot called Nadia to help people access the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Although Nadia can interpret their speech and expressions with 85% accuracy, she cant abstract the emotions they carry. With zero emotional intelligence, Nadia just looks at their sad face and carries out the process. Therefore, all the responses by Nadia are rational from a perspective. Whether the caller yells or cries or talks sweetly, her response would be similar to all of them.

This is where robots highly differ from humans. Even AI researchers agree that people will never forget how you made them feel in a critical situation and todays artificial intelligence cant compete with reality on that scale.

We mustve come across the ideology that women are capable of doing multiple tasks at the same time very well. When men are already incapable of doing the same at womens level, machines are nothing. AI researchers have trained robots to solve specific problems. But the ability to perform different tasks at a time is still in progress. Recently, Google tried its hand at making robots do multiple tasks. It implied its Google Assistant to do the routines. But the result was not very positive. Although artificial intelligence was capable of doing a number of things, it only played a selective role after receiving a command. So it is safe to say that todays robots cant take notes from a business chart, attend a phone call and answer the queries, and arrange things for the upcoming meeting, all at the same time.

Forget the dystopian future, humans are just scared of the fact that robots might take over their jobs very soon. Although this could be a reality to some extent, it is not a complete truth. Take the robots in healthcare for example. They take medicines to patients, follow their timeline, and even perform surgeries. But what they lack is the empathy to comfort people. But an actual human doctor can do that. Besides, machines cant take the initiative and proactively look for areas of improvement. Human employees develop processes and train others to make the company work more effectively and efficiently. Even though machines can take over laborious jobs, they will only push humans to carry out intellectual works without wiping out their job opportunities.

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How to Invest in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence – Analytics Insight

June 27, 2021 | Author: admin

We frequently put robotics and artificial intelligence together, but they are two separate fields. The robotics and artificial intelligence industries are some of the largest markets in the tech space today. Almost every industry in the world is adopting these technologies to boost growth and increase customer engagement.

According to reports, the global robotics market is expected to grow up to US$158.21 billion, between the period 2018 to 2025, at a CAGR of 19.11%. This growth is connected to the increasing adoption of artificial intelligence and robotics technology. Between 2020 to 2025, the market will grow at a CAGR of 25.38%.

During the pandemic, the demand for robotics technology has increased drastically. The medical field is deploying surgical robots to fight against Covid-19. Robots are helping healthcare professionals and patients by delivering food and medications, measuring the vitals, and aiding social distancing.

The automation industry is also using robotics technology to drive growth and transformation. Other industries like food, defense, manufacturing, retail, and others are also deploying robotics.

According to the reports, the global AI market is expected to grow from US$58.3 billion in 2021 to US$309.6 billion by 2026. Among the many factors that will drive the growth in the artificial intelligence market, the Covid-19 pandemic is the chief reason.

The pandemic has encouraged new applications and technological advancements in the market. Industries like healthcare, food, and manufacturing are increasingly adopting AI technologies to promote efficiency in business operations. Big tech companies like Microsoft, IBM, and Google are deploying AI to facilitate drug development, remote communication between patients and healthcare providers, and other services. AI-powered machines are also helping educators to track students performances, bridging the gaps in teaching techniques, and automating laborious administrative tasks.

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