Italian scientists convicted on failure to predict earthquake

tschu

tschu

Banned
In 2009, an earthquake struck a city in Italy, and unfortunately 300 people were killed. Afterwards, 7 scientists were brought to trial on manslaughter charges because they failed to predict the earthquake.

There are currently no reliable ways to scientifically predict earthquakes.

Not only were they brought to trial - they were convicted. And sentenced to 6 years in prison.

Terrible.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/oct/22/scientists-convicted-manslaughter-earthquake

 
You can almost hear the mass exodus of scientists from Italy.

What's next? Charge the weatherman for not accurately predicting where a tornado came down?

 
Lawyers? I'll bet the Pope is behind this. Finally getting back at those damn scientists. /jk :lol:

 
Unfortunately this is how the world is working. There is no long such thing as "sh#t happens" or "accidents" No matter what the situation, there is always someone ELSE at fault. Everyone wants to blame someone else. Very few want to point the thumb or just accept an "accident". Then we go through wasteful processes and spending that only screws over a bunch of people and makes their lives/job harder in a bogus attempt to make it a perfect world with rules and regulations that are just plain out of touch.

Vent done. Carry on.

 
Italy will never get scientists to offer advice on anything again, and no scientist will work for their gov. Not a smart move.

Every story I see out of European courts makes me never want to even take a vacation there.

 
If we sent a scientist to jail every time they were "wrong" about something, we'd have no scientists. No scientist is ever "wrong" ...a disproven prediction or hypothesis gains you just as much information as a correct one.

I'm still angry about this, it's unreal the way some people have to play the blame game.

 
tschu said:
If we sent a scientist to jail every time they were "wrong" about something, we'd have no scientists. No scientist is ever "wrong" ...a disproven prediction or hypothesis gains you just as much information as a correct one.
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Often it even gives more. Scientists very often get very excited to be proven wrong.

 
That is just crazy unbelievable. Unfortunately I see indications that is where we are headed in this country. Hot coffee lawsuits, people suing the theatre chain in the Colorado Dark Night tragedy etc. Are we really that far off from holding our scientists accountable in the same way as this Italian case? I would like to think it will never come to that but there are new head shakers everyday.

 
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JJHusker1 said:
That is just crazy unbelievable. Unfortunately I see indications that is where we are headed in this country. Hot coffee lawsuits, people suing the theatre chain in the Colorado Dark Night tragedy etc. Are we really that far off from holding our scientists accountable in the same way as this Italian case? I would like to think it will never come to that but there are new head shakers everyday.
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They're not always as bad as they seem.

http://www.cracked.c...total-b.s..html

 
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ZRod said:
JJHusker1 said:
That is just crazy unbelievable. Unfortunately I see indications that is where we are headed in this country. Hot coffee lawsuits, people suing the theatre chain in the Colorado Dark Night tragedy etc. Are we really that far off from holding our scientists accountable in the same way as this Italian case? I would like to think it will never come to that but there are new head shakers everyday.
Click to expand...
They're not always as bad as they seem.

http://www.cracked.c...total-b.s..html
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And they aren't always totally sensical either. I'm not claiming we are too far gone already. Only that it appears we are on the way. Not sure how long you have been around (as in alive and paying attention) but the gradual year by year changes do add up to pretty striking differences over a period of ten, twenty, thirty years. Change and acceptance is rarely so abrupt that it is surprising. Rather it creeps up on you in a way that is barely noticeably different than the way you remember it only a few years prior. Trust me, we are headed in this direction.

 
JJHusker1 said:
ZRod said:
JJHusker1 said:
That is just crazy unbelievable. Unfortunately I see indications that is where we are headed in this country. Hot coffee lawsuits, people suing the theatre chain in the Colorado Dark Night tragedy etc. Are we really that far off from holding our scientists accountable in the same way as this Italian case? I would like to think it will never come to that but there are new head shakers everyday.
Click to expand...
They're not always as bad as they seem.

http://www.cracked.c...total-b.s..html
Click to expand...
And they aren't always totally sensical either. I'm not claiming we are too far gone already. Only that it appears we are on the way. Not sure how long you have been around (as in alive and paying attention) but the gradual year by year changes do add up to pretty striking differences over a period of ten, twenty, thirty years. Change and acceptance is rarely so abrupt that it is surprising. Rather it creeps up on you in a way that is barely noticeably different than the way you remember it only a few years prior. Trust me, we are headed in this direction.
Click to expand...
Your right I'm probably a young pup at 24, but I like my history. I'm of the opinion that nothing is ever as bad as it seems and nothing is ever as good as it appears, and time/history are pretty cyclical for some strange reason.

This case in Italy is just beyond words for how outrageous it is, but lawsuits where someone is trying to be made "whole again" don't seem to be as outrageous as the media makes them out to be. I think we had this discussion in another thread with sd'skers, and I would love for him to chime in if he didn't get run off by the trolls. Not saying that there aren't some ridiculous lawsuits out there but I think they are far fewer than most people might think.

 
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