I'm a seasoned software engineer and author, born in Vienna, Austria in 1983. My story began a week before enrolling at elementary school when I got my first computer, a Commodore 64. Not only did I play games but I also made sketches of my own games. When I was eight years old I wanted to implement my ideas and thus I started teaching myself programming. Then I spent most my youth editing the Hugi Magazine and organizing the Hugi Size Coding Competition.
I'm both into the theoretical and practical aspects of computer science. At the Vienna University of Technology I gained a profound understanding of automata theory, formal languages, computation theory, complexity theory, formal logics, and algorithms. Moreover, I'm interested in metaphysics, epistemology, biochemistry, and psychometrics. I'm also the webmaster of 21st Century Headlines and a member of:
I scored IQ 145 on an official, psychologist-administered intelligence test and IQ 172 on an unofficial high-range test that was especially designed to measure IQ scores higher than 145. An IQ of 172 is as rare as 1 in 1.2 million of the general population. IQ is mainly related to problem-solving skills and I've chosen the profession of a software engineer exactly because in this profession you often encounter challenging problems. I believe that I've been a good asset for my employers because of my skills and enabled them to implement ideas which an average software engineer could not have materialized.
Actually it is easier to detect creativity in a person than intelligence: simply take a look at the works the person produced. I've always been a very creative person since early childhood when I drew comics. After getting my first computer I didn't only play games but also invented my own games and drew sketches of them using pen and paper. As a matter of fact computer game development is my primary creative hobby. In addition I'm also a prolific writer.
My most fundamental assumption is that not one of us is really able to state, with certainty, that he or she knows something. We can only assume that we know something, as it is always possible that our memory is flawed or that, for other reasons, what we believe to know is not true.
My next assumption is that there are two separate worlds that we live in: (1) the physical world and (2) the world of imagination, thoughts, ideas, fantasy, and dreams. While the physical world is governed by certain natural laws, these restrictions do not apply to the world of imagination. Everything that exists in the physical world can be imagined, but we can also imagine things that do not and will never come into existence in the physical world. That is why I consider the world of imagination the primary world, which makes me an idealist.
The distinction between living and nonliving things, in my mind, is that living things have consciousness, which links the two worlds together. Living things both exist in the physical world and have access to the world of imagination and can think of dreams and ideas.
I think that it can be argued that gods exist simply because they are imaginable. So, at the least, they exist in the world of imagination even if they may or may not exist in the physical world. In my own private religion, I consider life and death to be two antagonistic godly forces. I worship life and believe that I am able to live forever by being a loyal follower of the god of life. That also implies that time is linear, not cyclic. There was a start when everything began, and perhaps there is no end for this world to come to.
These are my views. I created my private religion when I was a child at elementary school age.
Strategy Games
Puzzle Games
Action Games
Old Adventure Games
Computer Art
For any questions feel free to contact me at cdvolko (at) gmail (dot) com. I also have a GitHub account, and my scientific publications can be found at ResearchGate. Moreover, I have a YouTube channel.
Imprint: This website is owned by Claus D. Volko, Vienna, Austria. No liability is taken for the contents of any of the linked websites. Claus D. Volko does not collect any personal information on the visitors of this website. http://www.cdvolko.net/