Manuel Schaeffer

I am a tech geek, a social scientist and I care about the Internet.

I want to understand how technology changes, from the macro to the micro level and how data transforms our society, lives and businesses. Technology is powerful, for good and for bad. We don`t need technological determinists who believe we can solve every human problem using software, nor do we need cyber-reactionaries whining about the Internet.

After a Communications degree at Munich University, I moved to Paris to study Politics and International Relations at Sciences Po. Unsatisfied with the purely theoretical courses, I started to look for a new program that incorporates the cutting edge of technology.

I found an MSc program called "Social Science of the Internet" at Oxford University. This department was founded not to educate computer scientists, but to provide an empirical basis for HOW the Internet is changing society, from education to political participation and from Big Data to automated decision-making.

Since journalists are usually bad scientists [no offense], this program aims to ground the hype or fear about the Internet in empirical results.

After working a year in Brussels at the European Commission [Internet Policy], I decided to actually work in the tech industry and moved to London where I've been spending more than two years @Google [Business Operations].

If I'm not in cyberspace [that term already sounds so dated], then I get lost somewhere else. Do you know how astrolabes work?

I get upset about stupidity (a lot), so don't expect mercy when I rant about questionable people making questionable arguments. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions but nobody is entitled to their own facts.