I'm a former child prodigy who is nowadays working as a computer programmer, born in Vienna, Austria, in October 1983.
I'm a self-taught programmer who became interested and somewhat involved in the demoscene over time, even though I'm more keen on game development than on coding graphics effects. My main interest in computer programming is efficient algorithms. I once won first place in a size-optimizing competition and thereupon I organized several contests of this kind myself (Hugi Size Coding Competition). Professionally I mainly work with C#, in my leisure activities I also use C++.
In my sparetime I maintain the website 21st Century Headlines that focuses on science and technology news, primarily about artificial intelligence, quantum computing, biomedical sciences, chemistry and physics. My own background comprises university degrees in medicine and computer science. Upon my graduation I joined the research group of Dr. Uwe Rohr, which was situated at the interface of endocrinology, immunology, oncology and psychiatry. Dr. Rohr investigated the effects of isoflavones as found in fermented soy or red clover. He hypothesized that isoflavones stimulate the conversion of stress hormones into immunity hormones in the steroidal hormone cascade and thus can be used to treat cancer, infectious diseases as well as severe mental illness. I collaborated with Dr. Rohr on several publications. After he passed away, I generalized his hypothesis and formulated the "Symbiont Conversion Theory".
I also gained some fame on the Internet with Hugi Magazine, which I was the main editor of from 1996 to 2014, and with high performances on mathematics and brain-teaser contests. Apart from science, I'm mainly interested in video games from the 8-bit and 16-bit eras. I'm especially in love with the Sega Mega Drive and I view myself as a creative person full of ideas, with a rich imagination. Since my primary skills are writing and programming, my creativity mainly manifests itself in short stories, novels and computer games.
Although I have no formal education in philosophy, I am also strongly interested in metaphysics, epistemology, and logic.
I would define intelligence as the ability to focus on problems and solve them within a reasonable time. I have taken many intelligence tests and usually obtained very high scores. Since it is said that Internet-based tests should be taken with a grain of salt I once went to a psychologist's to have myself tested officially, and on this test I scored IQ 142 (99.7th percentile). I consider intelligence a tool and believe that I have profited a lot from my abilities throughout my life.
Imprint: This website is owned by Claus D. Volko, Hungereckstr. 60/2, 1230 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/