What magic meaning is included in the term “Emergia”? This enigmatic word represents the virtual memory of that which has been invested in any process. That is the matter, the energy, the information, the assets, the units of measurement, things that cannot be added together. The value, therefore, is not the simple price of an object or a service, but an enormous system, fundamentally the substance of human beings, that hides inside everything that we acquire.

Francesco Gonella is Professor of Physics at l’Università Ca’ Foscari in Venice. He has worked and taught at several universities in North America and Japan, working on the physics of matter and nanomaterials. He works on issues related to higher education and public university, in relation also to his role as a promoter of the culture of peace.