Born in Bad Harzburg in 1945. After studying sociology, history, and psychology at the Free University Berlin, he taught there as a part-time lecturer, and since 1973 he has worked for various media, including the ARD radio and television network and the arts section of Die Zeit. From 1991 to 1994 he was editor-in-chief of Die Wochenpost. Since 1995 he has been a freelance writer for Die Zeit, Süddeutsche Zeitung, and die tageszeitung, primarily on the future of labor and the effects of globalization on culture and society. In 1988 he received the Jean Améry Prize for essay writing. He lives in Berlin and Franche-Comté, France. His most recent publications include Montaigne heute: Leben in Zwischenzeiten (Montaigne Today: Living in Intermediate Times, 1998), attac: Was wollen die Globalisierungskritiker? (attac: What Do the Critics of Globalization Want? 2002), and a dramatic monologue for the Schauspiel Hannover: Windows oder: Müssen wir uns Bill Gates als einen glücklichen Menschen vorstellen? (Windows; or, Should We Consider Bill Gates a Happy Man?, 2005).