Italian geologists convicted for not predicting an earthquake.

[Northern Sage]

[url="http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/national_world&id=8855540"]http://abclocal.go.c...orld&id=8855540[/url]
[url="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20025626"]http://www.bbc.co.uk...europe-20025626[/url]
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/10/24/italy-earthquake-scientists_n_2008048.html

Discuss.

[ListenToLife]

And this is what happens when ignorance is allowed to be in charge.

Earthquakes are unpredictable, as are Hurricanes and Volcanoes and similar freak natural disasters. In an area such as italy, which is close to a fault line and suffers regular tremors, it is impossible to know whether the tremors will mean a large scale earthquake or not. Charging someone for the natural movement of the earth is ridiculous and, as I said, is rooted in ignorance. If you are going to try to use science, make sure you know about said science.

[Sander]

This just proves that even judges can be idiots. |:

[ListenToLife]

[quote name='Zanda Panda' timestamp='1351112673' post='6053003']
This just proves that even judges can be idiots. |:
[/quote]

That never needed to be proven. There have always been idiotic Judges. (Sanco & Vanzetti case, 1922(I think?))

[Darth Revan of the Sith]

[quote name='DaWeirdGuy' timestamp='1351118077' post='6053070']
That never needed to be proven. There have always been idiotic Judges. (Sanco & Vanzetti case, 1922(I think?))
[/quote]
Bull. Sacco and Venzetti were anarchists and murderers. Although I don't have a problem with the anarchist part, they were responsible for the murder but didn't deserve execution. Evidence nowadays clearly shows that the bullet that killed the man was Sacco's using a ballistics test. I am sick and tired of people who honestly believe either of those two were innocent.

And people can put the blame on Sacco and then say Venzetti was the innocent guy which doesn't make any sense at all. It is well known now that both conspired. It doesn't matter who shot the bullet considering they both had the idea in mind.

[?someone?]

That's like firing your local weatherman for being wrong.
Holy sh*t that's stupid.

[Nathanael D. Striker]

If I remember correctly, those scientists did say that the earthquake would be insigificant. The fact that it was worse than they thought is the underlying cause of their conviction. Do I agree with their conviction? No, I do not because earthquakes are unpredictable. This wouldn't have happened if those scientists hadn't tried to predict the strength of the earthquake.

[Raine]

I am totally going after everyone who predicts anything now. Weather man gets it wrong? 25 to life. Stock manager promises rises in price? The electric chair. Temporarily died and there is no heaven? Pope to the firing squad!

[Cin]

You can never predict how severe an earthquake may be, but you can monitor the stress levels in the faults which can suggest possible areas of risk. Other disasters can be predicted only on a limited basis for example Earthquakes may or may not mean an impeding Volcanic eruption, a thunderstorm may not always mean a Tornado, etc. Charging someone for this is just bizarre, and it's a good way to discourage investment in the field and discourage people to study it

Specifically to this, there were minor earthquakes, but you cannot definitively say a larger earthquake will occur. All because these people falsely reassured people...think back to the Oct 1987 UK storm, it's more or less the same as convicting the M.E.T office particularly Michael Fish for falsely reassuring people (I know none if very few people died), it's just senseless.

[Scrooge]

[color=#333333][left][background=rgb(255, 255, 255)][i]But others said the crux of the trial was not earthquake prediction, but risk communication.[/i][/background][/left][/color]
[color=#333333][left][background=rgb(255, 255, 255)]In a blog post for Scientific American, journalist David Ropeik wrote that none of the scientists on the Great Risks commission, the [url="http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/10/24/italy-earthquake-scientists_n_2008048.html#"]national[/url] government body that evaluates the potential for natural disasters, actually spoke with the public about the possibility of an earthquake.[/background][/left][/color]
[color=#333333][left][background=rgb(255, 255, 255)][i]That task fell to Bernardo De Bernardinis, a government official who was not a seismologist, and who tried to assuage public concern by glibly suggesting they relax with a glass of wine. De Bernardinis was among the defendants in the case.[/i][/background][/left][/color]
[color=#333333][left][background=rgb(255, 255, 255)][i]Other defendants included Franco Barberi, head of the Great Risks Commission and Enzo Boschi, the head of the national Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology at the time.[/i][/background][/left][/color]
[color=#333333][left][background=rgb(255, 255, 255)][i]While there is no way to accurately predict a quake, Ropeik writes that “the scientists did a horrible job of communicating.”[/i][/background][/left][/color]

[color=#333333][left][background=rgb(255, 255, 255)]As I see it, the government was none the better in communication. If the statements of the scientists were contradictory, the government is guilty for not pushing for clarification at the time.[/background][/left][/color]

[Tentacruel]

I could understand why the scientific community would be angry, but this extends beyond that.

It's an all-around ethical issue. Everyone should be angry at this.

[Lonk]

...seriously Italy??

Wow, these people must think that scientists and experts much be able to see into the future without much trouble. Unfortunately, getting a prediction wrong shouldn't deserve being charged with Manslaughter.

[Raine]

Seriously though charge them with negligence if anything not manslaughter

[ListenToLife]

[quote name='Mr. A.' timestamp='1351123332' post='6053160']
Bull. Sacco and Venzetti were anarchists and murderers. Although I don't have a problem with the anarchist part, they were responsible for the murder but didn't deserve execution. Evidence nowadays clearly shows that the bullet that killed the man was Sacco's using a ballistics test. I am sick and tired of people who honestly believe either of those two were innocent.

And people can put the blame on Sacco and then say Venzetti was the innocent guy which doesn't make any sense at all. It is well known now that both conspired. It doesn't matter who shot the bullet considering they both had the idea in mind.
[/quote]

I never said either was Innocent. The Judge was biased though. Neither deserved a Death Sentence, especially Venzetti. Conspiring to murder is not the same as murder, just as threats are not equivalent to carrying them out. The Judge was a biased Judge. All I'm saying.

[Darth Revan of the Sith]

[quote name='DaWeirdGuy' timestamp='1351453519' post='6055803']
I never said either was Innocent. The Judge was biased though. Neither deserved a Death Sentence, especially Venzetti. Conspiring to murder is not the same as murder, just as threats are not equivalent to carrying them out. The Judge was a biased Judge. All I'm saying.
[/quote]
However, there WAS a murder.

[STVB]

are you f***ing kid?

"oh, you didnt predict an earthquake, so youre getting in trouble"

idiots, idiots everywhere

[Silverweed91]

I think such judges should convict themselves for unjustifiable ignorance -.-
Earthquakes cannot be predicted for sure, and scientists don't claim to do that, so how can you even think you can blame [i]them [/i]for that?
It's really riddiculous; fortunately, Italian justice sucks so much that those scientist most likely won't ever pass a single day in jail.

(btw, I'm Italian -.-)

[~ P O L A R I S ~]

God has pwned scientists YET AGAIN.

[ListenToLife]

[quote name='Lil Wayne!' timestamp='1351576608' post='6057015']
God has pwned scientists YET AGAIN.
[/quote]

¬_¬ Please dont bring God into this discussion. You'd have to prove he existed for this to have any relevance. And YCM is not the place for a 'debate' like that.