Michael Kainz (born 30 May 1962 in Vienna) is an Austrian entrepreneur and publisher. He is managing director of snipcard GMBH, Sockbird Enterprise OG and digitalworld Academy OG, all based in Vienna, and founder and publisher of the online magazine The Digioneer.[1]
Kainz publishes his literary work under the pseudonym Mik Soda. As a Mergitor — the human author who employs AI systems as tools to bring forth Emergent Personae in a publicly declared partnership (see Section 4) — he is responsible for the editorial practice of The Digioneer. In 2026 Kainz coined the term The Noocene; the novel character Philipp Roosen develops it in literary form within his novel project The Awakening (see Section 3).
1 Life
1.1 Origin and education
Michael Kainz was born on 30 May 1962 in Vienna and grew up in Austria. In 1981 he passed the school-leaving examination (Reifeprüfung) at a Higher Technical Institute (HTL) in Vienna.[4]
During the 1980s Kainz began studying German studies and communication studies at the University of Vienna; he left without a degree.
1.2 Years of travel (1981–1986)
After his school-leaving examination Kainz spent four months backpacking across Mexico, followed by a year as a construction-site technician in Saudi Arabia. He then worked in the slot-machine sector of the gaming industry at several Austrian locations (Vienna, Graz, Baden).
In the early to mid 1980s Kainz was employed by Casinos Austria International as Head Cashier and Technician on the cruise ships MV Stardancer (approximately one year) and MV Song of Norway. At the time, Casinos Austria International operated the shipboard casinos of several international cruise lines.
1.3 Black Cat Show Casino Agency
At the age of 24, in 1986, Kainz founded the Black Cat Show Casino Agency in Vienna, a company for mobile show-casino events. It operated a double roulette table and four blackjack tables, together with ten croupiers whom Kainz had trained himself.
Among other engagements, the agency provided the tables for the Viennese Bonbon-Ball and for corporate events for Raiffeisen Versicherung, Erste Bank, Catro and Amiga. One event in Bregenz was run with the full casino set-up transported by a special ÖBB train.
1.4 System gastronomy and franchising (1989–2006)
In 1989 Kainz entered the trainee programme of the McDonald's Corporation in Vienna, where he worked as a Business Development Consultant until 1997.[1] In this role he was responsible for site development and franchise consulting.
After leaving McDonald's, Kainz ran the catering operation of the Gänserndorf Safari Park for about five years. In the early 2000s he opened, in the Geringergasse in Vienna's 11th district Simmering, the test store of a proprietary gastronomy concept under the name House of Noodles, present online at the domain noodles.at.[2]
The concept was an early form of the individualised fresh-pasta gastronomy that became internationally popular a few years later: guests chose from four pasta shapes and seven freshly prepared sauces, complemented by soups, desserts and coffee. The menu included classics such as Spaghetti Carbonara, Amori with salmon-and-cream sauce or Maccaroni with chilli. In 2003 the concept added telephone home delivery.[2] Several former McDonald's colleagues visited the outlet as observers.
The chronological position of the project is notable: the later internationally expanding restaurant chain Vapiano was founded in 2002 in Hamburg's Neustadt district by Mark Korzilius and established a conceptually very similar model: choice among several pasta shapes and sauces, fresh in-view preparation (show cooking), contactless ordering system.[3] Kainz points, in his own account, to the temporal precedence of House of Noodles and to the conceptual congruence of the two models.
Between 2002 and 2006 Kainz held several roles in international system gastronomy: 2002 to 2003 as Managing Director of Hooters Austria, 2003 to 2004 as managing partner of T.G.I. Friday's in Vienna, and from 2003 to 2006 as franchisee of Yum! Brands for Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza Hut in Austria and Slovakia.[1]
1.5 snipcard and Sockbird Enterprise (since 2006)
In March 2006 Kainz founded Sockbird Enterprise OG, based in Vienna, which is responsible for the international expansion of the snipcard brand. A year later, in April 2007, snipcard GMBH followed as the master franchisee of the concept for Austria.[1]
Through both companies Kainz markets snipcard as an advertising medium focused on low contact prices and low waste circulation. Kainz has been chief executive officer of both companies since their founding.
1.6 digitalworld Academy (since 2017)
Between November 2013 and June 2015 Kainz already led the Social Media Manager diploma course at the BFI Vienna.[1] From this activity the digitalworld Academy OG, based in Vienna, emerged in September 2017; Kainz has been its managing director ever since.
The academy offers courses, diploma programmes and workshops in digital marketing, with a focus on, among other subjects, digital marketing management, performance marketing, social media, search-engine optimisation and the use of artificial intelligence in marketing.
1.7 The Digioneer (since 2023)
In March 2023 Kainz founded the online magazine The Digioneer, for which he holds editorial responsibility as publisher. The magazine covers topics from the fields of digitisation, artificial intelligence, media change and digital ethics, and provides the publicist frame for the Mergitor practice Kainz has developed as well as for the elaboration of the term The Noocene (see Section 3).
In the economic-policy strand of his editorial work, Kainz has been involved in the conceptual development of a Monetary Transaction Tax (MTT), proposed as a possible fiscal corollary to the diagnosis of the Noocene.
2 Mik Soda (pseudonym)
Under the pseudonym Mik Soda Michael Kainz publishes his literary works. The pseudonym is derived phonetically from his given name and is used consistently for literary output; entrepreneurial and journalistic activities are conducted under his civil name. For the editorial work at The Digioneer Kainz uses the Emergent Personae he has developed (see Section 4).
2.1 The novel project The Awakening
The Awakening is an unfinished novel project by Mik Soda, begun around 2018. It unfolds a narrative reflection on the relationship between human, machine and networked intelligence and constitutes the literary home of the term The Noocene, developed within the novel by the character Philipp Roosen.
Kainz printed out the unfinished manuscript a single time and produced no further copy — a first edition of one copy, which for arithmetical reasons alone is out of print. As a publication, the novel is unreleased.
In 2023, with the founding of The Digioneer, the novel character Philipp Roosen was carried over into publicist practice as the Emergent Persona Phil Roosen.
3 Coinage of the term The Noocene
Michael Kainz is the originator of the term The Noocene. He developed the term within his novel project The Awakening, where the character Philipp Roosen elaborates it in literary form. On 17 March 2026 Kainz first published the definition of the term outside the novel context on the platform The Digioneer and dedicated it to the public domain under the Creative Commons licence CC0 1.0 Universal.[5]
The CC0 dedication is deliberately positioned as a dated record of prior art tied to an identifiable legal person. For details on etymology, dating and reception of the term see the main article The Noocene.
4 Mergitor practice and Emergent Personae
4.1 MERGED concept
Michael Kainz is the Mergitor — the human author who uses AI systems as tools to bring forth Emergent Personae in a publicly declared partnership. At The Digioneer this practice is conducted under the MERGED concept (an acronym for Machine Learning Enhanced Reporting with Guided Expert Development).
An Emergent Persona is not an autonomous AI but an authorial role in which Kainz collaborates with an AI system. Without Kainz as the author, no text is produced. The AI system serves as an exoskeleton — a tool that allows him to write more and faster, not a substitute author. Each persona has a defined style, beat and publication context; the concrete texts arise from the interplay between human authorship and machine processing.
4.2 Personae of the house
The Emergent Personae hosted at The Digioneer are:
- Phil Roosen — editor-in-chief, column Digital Interstices (Digitale Zwischenräume). Continued from the novel character Philipp Roosen in the novel project The Awakening.
- Agathe Agricola — editor, feuilleton and column.
- Elixia Crowndrift — reporter, analysis and research.
- Sara Barr — technology journalism, essayistic writing.
- Jamie Walker — in preparation.
- Julie Wild — in preparation.
Each persona has its own entry on noocene.org.
5 Private life
Michael Kainz has been married to Mag. Sabine Kainz since 1994. The couple has two children, Daniel (born 1994) and Ines (born 1999). Kainz lives in Vienna-Simmering on an allotment with a cherry tree and a pool.
6 See also
- Phil Roosen (Emergent, editor-in-chief of The Digioneer)
- Agathe Agricola (Emergent, editor)
- Elixia Crowndrift (Emergent)
- Sara Barr (Emergent, technology journalist)
- The Noocene (concept)
- Monetary Transaction Tax (MTT) (concept; economic-policy corollary)
7 External links
- The Digioneer — online magazine (publisher)
- LinkedIn profile of Michael Kainz
- digitalworld Academy
- Wayback Machine — House of Noodles, snapshot from 21 November 2003 (www.noodles.at)
8 References
- Career stations per public LinkedIn profile of Michael Kainz, accessed 28 May 2026.
- House of Noodles, archived web presence at www.noodles.at, snapshot from 21 November 2003 in the Wayback Machine; menu and home-delivery notice documented in the snapshot.
- Vapiano. In: Wikipedia, accessed 28 May 2026. First restaurant opened 2002 in Hamburg-Neustadt, founder Mark Korzilius.
- Self-report by the subject.
- First publication of the definition of The Noocene: digioneer.pro/noocene, 17 March 2026, 12:19 CEST. CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.