BBC:

A China-based supercomputer has leapfrogged rivals to be named the world’s most powerful system.

Tianhe-2, developed by the government-run National University of Defence Technology, topped the latest list of the fastest 500 supercomputers, by a team of international researchers.

They said the news was a “surprise” since the system had not been expected to be ready until 2015.

China last held the top rank between November 2010 and June 2011.

Tianhe-2 is twice as fast the second fastest supercomputer in the world, which is located in the country whose once mighty science program was crippled by a delusion that has persisted for over 30 years. This delusion sees the market rather than the state as the source of technological and scientific innovation. A society that has no illusions about the importance of the state is a society that will rule the near and far future.

Charles Mudede—who writes about film, books, music, and his life in Rhodesia, Zimbabwe, the USA, and the UK for The Stranger—was born near a steel plant in Kwe Kwe, Zimbabwe. He has no memory...