Born in Wuppertal, Germany on May 2nd, 1965, the year when Soviet astronaut Alexei Leonov performed the first space walk. From 1976 to 1984 I obtained my education at the Gymnasium (secondary school) "Am Kothen" in Wuppertal, where I came in touch with classical and modern philosophy. I passed my "Abitur" (final examination) in 1984, refused military service and performed civil service for two years in Bingen am Rhein and in Wuppertal. During the 80's, I travelled to Spain, France, England, Jamaica, the Antilles, East Germany and other European countries.

From 1987 to 1989 I studied electrical engineering at the University of Wuppertal and subsequently moved to Kaiserslautern to study informatics at the Technical University. I passed my final examination in 1991. Thereafter, I moved to Cologne to work with a German software company in the fields of machine translation, CBT, and artificial intelligence. This experience brought me to study neuroscience, cognitive psychology and epistemology somewhat deeper, in order to find out whether human intelligence can be mimicked by a machine. During the late 80s and early 90s I frequently travelled to Spain and Cuba, where I learned the Spanish language.

In 1993 I moved to Bangkok, Thailand, where I established an information technology company, which I operated for 10 years. I participated in philosophical online forums and newsgroups since the early days of the Internet. In Thailand I came under the influence of Asian culture and traditions. I began studying Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Hinduism, and other Eastern philosophies. I frequently travel within South East Asia, as well as to Germany and America. Presently, I live with my family in Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand.

Thomas Knierim
(Editor & Webmaster)