Virtuella världar kan vara så mycket mer än bara spel vilket jag går igenom. Frågan är då vad mer är det och till vad kan de användas? Genom studier och genomgångar av vetenskapliga visar vart det virtuella användandet står idag och till vad virtuella världar kan användas. Jag försöker också ge svar på om det bör vidareutvecklas och användas mer. Det jag går in på är bland annat virtuella obduktioner. Hur de kan användes för att snabba på polisens arbete och hitta dödsorsaker som annars skulle missats och hur personer med vissa religioner som tidigare motsagt sig obduktion kan obduceras snabb och enkelt. Hur datorspelare kan lösa medicinska problem som gäckat forskare i många år på bara några dagar. Hur dessa datorspelare lyckats rekonstruera aidsprotein som kan komma att användas för botemedel eller vaccin. Samt hur många forskare utför beteendeforskning i spel där forskningen kan kopplas till verkliga händelser. Avslutningsvis går jag igenom olika områden där virtuell forskning eller virtuella världar skulle kunna användas till olika ändamål.

Information and communication technologies constitute a substantial part of today's world. Growing informatization, i.e. implementation of these technologies, in all areas of human activities generates a need to reflect upon their influence on man and society. The significance of this intellectual endeavor is accentuated by the very nature of these technologies. Since they are inserted between individuals in acts of mutual communication their application impacts on information processes within the frame of human societies. This factor takes effect everywhere, no less in the economic environment. In consequence of recent events which gave rise to a financial meltdown at first and an economic crisis later, the necessity to inquire into the effect of informatization on the domain of arrangement of economic relationships acquires its sense of urgency. At present, however, there is a significant gap between the theoretical framework which man uses to intellectually embrace these phenomena and the application of the technologies in question in which a disproportionately greater amount of resources are being invested. Therefore our capability of capturing in our train of thought the changes in the socioeconomic environment of today caused by informatization lags behind the very speed and dynamics of the changes. For that reason, the objective of this diploma thesis is to create a methodological-phenomenological framework for deliberation on the influence of information and communication technologies on the globalizing economy. The fundamental attribute which induces far-reaching transmutations in this field is the virtualization potential that the modern, symbolic and highly interactive forms of these technologies have obtained. As they began to be implemented in the frame of the arrangement of economic relationships, they impinged on a domain whose inner dynamism has already split into two components -- virtual and real -- by the symbol of value -- money. Another layer of virtualization related to the information and communication technologies as such therefore transforms the economy into a much more complex whole, the research of which poses an intellectual challenge as well as a necessity as the changing character of the globalizing economy shelters many pitfalls. This thesis offers theoretical points of departure for grasping the issues in question.