PROJEKTE | Leonie Mathis

The three world modes according to Gantenbein

The wetting stages according to Gantenbein

The ethical challenges according to Gantenbein

The example of Deus Capra from the book Annetzung by Gantenbein

Monograph (2025):
Submerging: Action through technology and imagination

Through the ongoing process of submerging (german: Annetzung) with technology and imagination, both individually and societally, we increasingly find ourselves in an epistemic crisis and ethical predicament. Because submerging — a cultural technique that lets actors extend their presence and identity into virtualised spaces — reshapes reality, the interdisciplinary discourse on technology and imagination calls for new terminology. This thesis therefore aims to deepen our understanding of how actors and systems interact and to illuminate their impact on concepts of reality, action and physicality. It explores new ontologies, renegotiates familiar terms and categories, and forges a more precise vocabulary that lets us describe and ethically assess experiences expanded by technology and imagination. Such clarity enables interdisciplinary comparison and fresh conceptual work so that we can better analyse both current and future technologies. The thesis thus offers one of the first attempts to reconfigure epistemological and applied-ethical reflections on technology and imagination.

To enrich our grasp of action via technology and imagination, the theoretical section develops three conceptual tools: world mode, abstraction and submerging.

“World mode” categorises every virtualised system in which we can act. Depending on maintenance and type of virtualisation, systems into which we submerge fall into the world mode of imagination (Mundus Imaginatus), the empirical world mode of the given (Mundus Datus) or the technological world mode of expansion (Mundus Computatus). Within these modes act various “world-changers”: Synergents — humans and animals from Mundus Datus; Apparents — manifestations of Mundus Imaginatus or Mundus Computatus; Referents—physical objects in Mundus Datus; Convergents — e.g. robots that migrate from Mundus Computatus into Mundus Datus; and Pretenders, which impersonate another actor type.

Abstraction refers to the degree to which something is perceived abstractly and thus influences perception, action, interaction and presence inside a system. Four levels are distinguished: denotation (symbolic representation without direct sensory qualities); surrogation and potentation (suggesting function or properties by indirect means); and exemplification (an almost complete sensory rendering).

Submerging denotes the individual and social process of entering virtualised technological or imaginative systems and beginning to perceive and act there. The waterline metaphor illustrates how actors submerge into different world modes. The line marks the boundary that world-changers cross, engaging with a world mode more or less deeply according to their submerging level. These levels determine how technologies and prostheses shape physicality, presence and causal consequences.

Adler systems (e.g. tele-operating a deep-sea robot) involve minimal submerging, enabling distant monitoring.
Frigate systems gently “touch” the waterline—users remain in the conventional world mode while screens permit slight interaction with the new mode.
Pelican systems push the boundary further: physical actions occur mainly in the conventional mode, but perception shifts to the submerged mode, as in VR setups with headsets.
Penguin systems mark full immersion: actors are entirely present and acting in the new mode, as in dreaming or via human-brain interfaces (HBI).

These gradations are crucial for understanding the physical and psychological effects of submerging. The concepts elaborated here refine existing terminology in techno-philosophy, computer science, epistemology and philosophy of language.

The theoretical reflections open new perspectives for HCI discourse. Using Deus Capra — controlling a goat avatar that experiences assault — the thought experiment shows how the new tools let us describe submerging phenomena once considered inexpressible. Submerging into Mundus Computatus destabilises reality, identity, physicality and action, demanding broader psychological, social and ethical scrutiny. Consistent technological practice is likewise needed to ensure responsible use of virtualised systems; the thesis therefore critiques current ethics and regulations for games, robots and machines.

The practical section lays the groundwork for an ethics of submerging. Entering a new world mode changes familiar structures, producing fluidity of self, world and action. Seepage highlights how knowledge, behaviour and consequences leak between modes; Confluence names the clash and blending of prior concepts with dissonant experiences, requiring renegotiation of the real, the hypothetical and the actors themselves.

To address these challenges, the dissertation proposes:

World transparency – clear labelling of every actor’s and content’s world mode.
World exit – the right to leave any submerged world mode at will.
World proximity – maintaining physical-emotional connection and critical distance alike.
World control – regulatory frameworks ensuring that technologies meet ethical standards.
World ownership – rights over data, convergents, apparents, referents and resources inside world modes.

Combined, these postulates foster a sustainable, ethically grounded design of submerging that protects all participants from abuse. Applying the new vocabulary to Deus Capra confirms the need to expand and sharpen discourse to capture submerging’s complexity.

Affirming the reality of all three world modes undermines the simple real/virtual divide and deepens our grasp of submerging dynamics. The thesis therefore urges an integrative, interdisciplinary approach to the technological world mode, offering new avenues for HCI—especially in presence, prosthesis comparison, immersion and the under-explored synergy of technology and imagination. Its typologies and terminologies provide a structured lens for describing technologically and imaginatively enabled action and for methodically assessing it. Consequently, the study supplies key insights for evolving epistemological and ethical guidelines that respond to digital transformation, helping us shape the technological, imaginative and given worlds responsibly.

In short: We are as free — and as obligated — as we are submerged.

Link to the book (2025): schwabe.ch/leonie-gantenbein-annetzung-978-3-7965-5359-2

Department of Wild Humanities in Black Rock City, Nevada

Since my first burn in 2016, I've been intensively involved with the Burning Man project as a social experiment and a blueprint for an American counterculture. Radical self-expression in a less than human-friendly habitat, inclusion as a temporary paradise, and a playground for homo ludens with a hundred unwritten rules and ten official principles—all of this shapes the dynamics of this not-so-ecological celebration of one's own nature. For over 30 years, at the end of the week, homo ardens has transformed into homo incensus (the man burning in flames).

Every year, we organize a critical lecture for Burgins (first-time participants) and those interested in counterculture to convey the social codes, the specific language, and the traditional rituals of this counterculture. Its roots go back to the 1980s – to the Kakophonie Society, the Suicide Club, and ultimately to Larry Harvey. The lecture covers the most important preparations for the journey to the dried-up salt flat in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, the land of the Paiute, and demonstrates what it takes to become a citizen of the temporary pop-up Black Rock City.

To contribute to the pop-up city, we created the Department of Wild Humanities . This is a university-style "department" within our camp, usually located near 7:00 and 1. The addresses in Black Rock City are traditionally based on Dante's circles of hell and follow a clock-cycle principle—creating a unique, temporary urban structure that perfectly complements our vision of a wild, vibrant teaching and learning space.

Through the department, we encourage intensive discussions and enrich the community with exciting content directly from the academic environment—well-researched, yet always entertaining, playful, and applicable.

Association of Tall Women of Switzerland

In 2016, I founded the One Eighty Up Club to connect tall women in Switzerland and offer them a space for exchange and solidarity. This has since grown into a dedicated community of several hundred women, all over 180 cm tall, who meet regularly to share experiences and organize joint activities. In addition to promoting social contacts, the association advises mothers and daughters on questions related to a possible hormonal growth arrest. Under the motto #BodyPositivity, we encourage young women as young as 16 to be proud of their height. Since 2019, I have no longer been the club's president, but I continue to be an active member committed to the goals and values of the One Eighty Up Club.