Italian court convicts 7 scientists of Manslaughter

[bedub1]

7 scientists have been convicted of manslaughter for failing to adequately warn residents of the 2009 earthquake.

The last time Italy did something this stupid was in 1633 when they tried Galileo as a heretic for his contention that the Earth revolved around the sun and not vice versa as Catholic church teaching then held.

Dear Italy: Way to pull your head out of your ass and make some progress over the past 379 years.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/italian-exp ... -1.1005457

[Haggis_McMutton]

Well that's a novel approach.

Maybe governments should set targets like: "improve solar cell efficiency by 10% in 5 years". If the scientists don't deliver, jail those lazy bastards.

[bedub1]

Well that's a novel approach.

Maybe governments should set targets like: "improve solar cell efficiency by 10% in 5 years". If the scientists don't deliver, jail those lazy bastards.

The religious people didn't tell us about 9-11 prior to it happening. Arrest everybody who claims they are in communication with god.

[Army of GOD]

7 scientists have been convicted of manslaughter for failing to adequately warn residents of the 2009 earthquake.

The last time Italy did something this stupid was in 1633 when they tried Galileo as a heretic for his contention that the Earth revolved around the sun and not vice versa as Catholic church teaching then held.

Dear Italy: Way to pull your head out of your ass and make some progress over the past 379 years.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/italian-exp ... -1.1005457

I'm too lazy to read the article but this is ridiculous.

They should arrest the scientists who made the mistake when measuring the speed of a neutrino instead.

[Woodruff]

7 scientists have been convicted of manslaughter for failing to adequately warn residents of the 2009 earthquake.

Uh...wow.

[Juan_Bottom]

Yeah I've been following this. There have been a sh*tload of protests from scientists around the world over this. There was even this huge petition project because, as everyone knows, it's impossible to predict Earthquakes. Also, the scientists did try to warn the Italian government anyway, and it was the government who didn't care.

[notyou2]

7 scientists have been convicted of manslaughter for failing to adequately warn residents of the 2009 earthquake.

The last time Italy did something this stupid was in 1633 when they tried Galileo as a heretic for his contention that the Earth revolved around the sun and not vice versa as Catholic church teaching then held.

Dear Italy: Way to pull your head out of your ass and make some progress over the past 379 years.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/italian-exp ... -1.1005457

Unfuckingbelieveable!!!!

On a side note, why are you watching Canadian news bedub?

[Symmetry]

Meh, while I completely disagree with the sentencing, the prosecution case was a bit more complex than "they didn't predict the earthquake".

The crux of the prosecution case was that they went on the media and told people it wasn't going to happen and they shouldn't worry or prepare.

With regards to government they presented themselves as experts who could predict whether an earthquake would occur. That was the job they were hired for, after all. They said that it probably wouldn't, but weren't 100% certain.

Their defense in the case is that it was impossible to tell.

That works to a certain extent with their official report, but less so with their media statements.

The conviction was stupid, but there are plenty of people who still find them liable to a certain extent.

[Neoteny]

I reluctantly agree. Some of the things they said may have actively hurt the situation. Manslaughter seems like a lot to me, but some sort of negligence discussion is in order. They definitely should have lost their jobs. But I don't think they were criminally negligent for some reason.

[HapSmo19]

I fully support this verdict. Being that these government "scientists" themselves agree that earthquakes are impossible to predict, by imprisoning them, the Italian taxpayer is finally going to get his/her moneys' worth out of these guys. He'll, once inside, they can make a seismograph out of a roll of toilet paper and a tattoo gun if they need long sheets of paper with squiggly lines to pointlessly mull over.

[Funkyterrance]

Who here is Italian? I'd like to hear their opinion.
How do we know the Italian scientists didn't proclaim that they could predict an earthquake and when signs of danger arose they didn't recognize them? Maybe they were earthquacks. The article was written in a pretty biased manner.

[chang50]

Well that's a novel approach.

Maybe governments should set targets like: "improve solar cell efficiency by 10% in 5 years". If the scientists don't deliver, jail those lazy bastards.

The religious people didn't tell us about 9-11 prior to it happening. Arrest everybody who claims they are in communication with god.

I disagree,if you truly imagine you are in communication with any god(s),you require treatment for mental health problems..

[chang50]

Who here is Italian? I'd like to hear their opinion.
How do we know the Italian scientists didn't proclaim that they could predict an earthquake and when signs of danger arose they didn't recognize them? Maybe they were earthquacks. The article was written in a pretty biased manner.

Even if they did,it would still only be a prediction,the only way they could be culpable, and even then it's dubious, would be if they guaranteed no earthquakes.

[Funkyterrance]

Who here is Italian? I'd like to hear their opinion.
How do we know the Italian scientists didn't proclaim that they could predict an earthquake and when signs of danger arose they didn't recognize them? Maybe they were earthquacks. The article was written in a pretty biased manner.

Even if they did,it would still only be a prediction,the only way they could be culpable, and even then it's dubious, would be if they guaranteed no earthquakes.

What if it were proved that they were negligent in doing their jobs as scientific investigators?

[chang50]

Then they would deserve punishment proportionate to their offences.The problem IMHO is Joe Public expects 'experts' to be infallible.We had a massive storm in the UK 25 years this month,which a prominent TV forecaster predicted wouldn't happen and there was an almighty furore about this later.These people are only making educated guesses based on the best info. available,there are no guarantees with Mother Nature.

[HapSmo19]

If earthquakes can't be predicted then, other than securing a cushy government job, what field are these people actually "expert" in?

[chang50]

If earthquakes can't be predicted then, other than securing a cushy government job, what field are these people actually "expert" in?

Earthquakes are predicted regularly,just not infallibly.When they are predicted correctly it doesn't make the news because it is unremarkable and mundane, and the public craves scapegoats.

[HapSmo19]

If earthquakes can't be predicted then, other than securing a cushy government job, what field are these people actually "expert" in?

Earthquakes are predicted regularly....

Even though that is a lie, I'll give you the opportunity to post some examples before I call you a liar.

[Symmetry]

If earthquakes can't be predicted then, other than securing a cushy government job, what field are these people actually "expert" in?

Earthquakes are predicted regularly....

Even though that is a lie, I'll give you the opportunity to post some examples before I call you a liar.

I predict an earthquake in Japan within the next month.

[HapSmo19]

That is called "forecasting" which, as you've just shown, any idiot can do. There is no need to employ anyone to do this. Prediction is different.

[Symmetry]

That is called "forecasting" which, as you've just shown, any idiot can do. There is no need to employ anyone to do this. Prediction is different.

I predict a forecast of an earthquake in Japan within the next month.

[chang50]

If earthquakes can't be predicted then, other than securing a cushy government job, what field are these people actually "expert" in?

Earthquakes are predicted regularly....

Even though that is a lie, I'll give you the opportunity to post some examples before I call you a liar.

A quick google search of successful earthquake predictions reveals several examples,from different areas.

[chang50]

That is called "forecasting" which, as you've just shown, any idiot can do. There is no need to employ anyone to do this. Prediction is different.

Seems like semantics to me,absolutely successful prediction is surely impossible.Are you claiming everyone can forecast with more or less equal accuracy?

[HapSmo19]

If earthquakes can't be predicted then, other than securing a cushy government job, what field are these people actually "expert" in?

Earthquakes are predicted regularly....

Even though that is a lie, I'll give you the opportunity to post some examples before I call you a liar.

A quick google search of successful earthquake predictions reveals several examples,from different areas.

Post em.

[HapSmo19]

Seems like semantics to me,absolutely successful prediction is surely impossible.Are you claiming everyone can forecast with more or less equal accuracy?

No, I'm claiming that "There is a fifty percent chance of a magnitude 5.5 at location x sometime in the next ten years" is completely fucking useless information.