Jacobus van Schalkwijk

Jacobus “Chris” van Schalkwijk is a South African-born author, Civil Engineer, educator, entrepreneur, and lifelong systems thinker whose career has crossed engineering, business, education, and conflict-zone operations.

Born in 1955, Chris has worked as a draftsman, surveyor, civil engineer, construction manager, software specialist, business owner, English educator, and Iraq warzone Country Manager between 2006 and 2012, where he oversaw engineering operations, military camp design, logistics systems, and infrastructure projects under extreme conditions.

Holding qualifications including an MBA in International Business Management, TESOL, TEFL, and dual M.Ed degrees in Advanced Teaching, he spent over a decade teaching English in Thailand while building his own language academy.

A highly analytical thinker with a background spanning engineering design, behavioral systems, language education, chess, and technology, Chris brings a unique perspective to speculative fiction.

His writing explores surveillance, AI governance, behavioral scoring, data commodification, human resilience, and the fragile boundary between technology and identity.

The Silence Protocol is Book One of The Dataverse Series, a cyberpunk science fiction pentalogy examining algorithmic power, predictive compliance, and the human cost of intelligent systems.

Chris currently writes from Thailand, where he continues developing fiction, teaching systems, and long-form projects exploring the intersection of technology, consciousness, survival, and the future of human civilization.