The concept of «virtuality» has introduced a completely new mode of representing, presenting, as well as acquiring knowledge. The present collection of papers acknowledges this development and gives a survey over the most important developments, issues, and foundations from an interdisciplinary perspective. This book intends to enlarge the definition of virtual reality in order to go beyond the toy character it may still have in the public. The contributions show that virtuality has not only been successfully applied in various technical and medical domains but also touches basic philosophical problems and questions related to cognitive science. In fact, developing the concept of virtuality further will be the key to many challenges in both theoretical and technical domains.

The Editor: Alexander Riegler obtained his Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science in 1995 at the Vienna University of Technology, on the basis of a dissertation about Constructivist Artificial Life. His academic interests include cognitive science, philosophy of science, and research in biological and cognitive complexity. He has been working at the universities of Vienna, Zurich, and Brussels.