When symmetry breaks down, Nature must choose between one possible solution and others, according to Mr C. Rubbia. The ability to choose is the beginning of freedom. Choosing means exercising one’s liberty, but it also marks the beginning of responsibility, because choosing also means giving something up.

Freedom is a non-normative value which allows us positive and/or negative actions. But its space-time, as vast as it may be, is not sufficient; it also requires a more or less symmetrical environment. When we are in good health, we enjoy great freedom. On the other hand, when we suffer an accident or illness, when our physical or psychic balance is broken (broken leg, coma), our freedom to move about or to speak is affected. Therefore, liberty depends on a certain balance, a certain symmetry.

Locked up in a tiny cell, where would our freedom of action be? In the desert, we are supposed to be free to move about… Yet would we really be free had we just time and space, but no resources (water, supplies, fuel)? Space-time and resources are intimately linked to bring substance to our liberty. In this case, resources must be proportional to the needs of the journey. Should the principle of PROPORTIONALITY be violated, liberty would decrease.

If all the services we provide through our work earned us no salary or other consideration, i.e. if the principle of RECIPROCITY did not exist, where would our liberty be?

What is a man’s liberty under torture? When force ratios are unbalanced, when the principle of EQUALITY is violated, liberty disappears. It is common for us to say that our freedom stops where the other’s freedom begins, but for the tortured man, his freedom begins where his torturer’s freedom ends…

We are free to choose the make, model, colour, etc., of our vehicle. But should our insurer shirk his responsibility and abandon us after our car had been set on fire, where would our liberty be? Our freedom depends on the Others, and on their compliance with the principle of RESPONSIBILITY.

We have just discovered that freedom is not an absolute value. It is also born of the rupture of symmetry. It is through this small crack that determinism disappears to yield the way for Mrs. Liberty. It is through this crack that a space-time is created, with possibilities of choices which only survive within the limits of the respect for the various symmetries.

Freedom gives the responsible individual all his dignity. The ability of humans to evolve depends heavily on their relationship to the environment and to other humans. In other words, it depends on their relationship to the mind/matter that is governed by the rules of symmetry which introduce normative values unknown to freedom. Human beings are not only material and spiritual, but also relational ones. As such they cannot overlook the limits dictated by the rules of symmetry.

These limits give freedom all its meaning and raison d’être: unrestricted freedom would have neither sense nor value. The formula according which one’s freedom ends where that of others begins perfectly reflects the principle of equality.

Freedom reflects the reality which surrounds us. It also consists of space-time and energy/matter, all of which is topped by a precise, reliable referential system. Liberty appears to be but one of the various facets (or properties) of reality.