ABSTRACT
The worlds of science and commerce had shown the way to a harmonious international order in which voluntarily arrived at standards would embody reason, enhance productivity, eliminate confusing and unfair local customs, ensure peace and co-operation, and be guided by the wise counsel of technical expertise. A pattern of rational international governance had been established; modern metrology virtuously modelled modern political order, and the world had finally been made to measure. Researchers working at the Australian National University have conducted an experiment that has shown that reality does not exist until it is measured. Social sciences, always eager to imitate the 'real sciences', reacted with gratitude to technical possibilities offered by Big Data, and the dictum 'what can't be measured does not exist' has apparently reached doctoral programs in social sciences—or so the doctoral students claim. One element of science where measurement certainly established itself well is bibliometrics.
