The failures and blunders of our economies lead me to propose another referential system, a compass, so to speak. We need a more reliable referential system, one which shows greater respect for human beings and the environment. It is my belief that only an objective, reliable referential system, suitable as a guide for our choices and actions, will allow us to develop a reliable and ethically responsible economic, social and environmental policy. It seems to me that this is the very foundation, and that no technical solution will make any sense so long as we lack such reliable and objective benchmarks. These must also be universal in nature, as we live in a globalised world where everyone is interconnected.

When we buy vegetables at the market, who cares whether the kilogram is calibrated using a platinum standard equivalent to one cubic decimetre of water? When an architect shows us his proposed plans for a house, do we think of the Meter Convention, which set the meter’s length at the “ten-millionth part of a quarter of the terrestrial meridian” but which, over time, has been modified to become “the distance travelled by light in free space during a specific fraction of a second”? And when bills come in, we pay them in a currency backed by gold or by special drawing rights. Thus, the value of any merchandise, its weight, its dimensions (length, width, height), are never set subjectively: they are always defined in relation to an objective and measurable outside reference. Without such an objective reference, a system, whether physical or spiritual – like an ethical system – would become corrupt and eventually self-destruct.