On big data, tech giants, and Big Brother…

The OpenPower Foundation — a nonprofit led by Google and IBM executives with the aim of trying to “drive innovation” — has set up a collaboration between IBM, Chinese company Semptian, and U.S. chip manufacturer Xilinx. Together, they have worked to advance a breed of microprocessors that enable computers to analyze vast amounts of data more efficiently […] Chinese state security agencies are likely using the technology to target human rights activists, pro-democracy advocates, and critics of President Xi Jinping’s regime, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to fear of reprisals.

How U.S. Tech Giants Are Helping to Build China’s Surveillance State

Beats & Pieces 19/7.

How to live your life?

Find life mentors, not just career mentors. Find people who are good at the art of living, the wise ones, and tell them you want them to be available. They do not need to be friends. Then keep in touch, watch them, listen to them, learn from them. Steer clear of people who are paid to do this or imagine themselves to be gurus. Steer clear of anyone with too high opinion of himself or herself, lacking in self-deprecation or a sense of humor. Find the authentic ones who are a bit surprised you picked them out. You need several. I have been lucky enough to find them. They have made all the difference.

A wise person on NYT

On Morrissey, music, and memory…

I understand it is very difficult when an artist you admire reveals something about themselves which you feel casts an unhappy shadow across their work – and this is by no means exclusive to Morrissey. It happens all the time […] I think perhaps it would be helpful to you if you saw the proprietorship of a song in a different way. Personally, when I write a song and release it to the public, I feel it stops being my song. It has been offered up to my audience and they, if they care to, take possession of that song and become its custodian. The integrity of the song now rests not with the artist, but with the listener.

The very erudite Nick Cave