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Manslaughter trial for Italian Scientists not predicting killer Earthquake

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by sipnfuel, Sep 20, 2011.

  1. sipnfuel

    sipnfuel New Member

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    Scientists Worry over 'Bizarre' Trial for Failing to Predict Earthquake - Yahoo! News


    It seems to me that the Italian courts have gone mad.
     
    #1 sipnfuel, Sep 20, 2011
  2. Michgal007

    Michgal007 Senior Member

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    This was printed on the Science magazine as well. Crazy.
     
    #2 Michgal007, Sep 20, 2011
  3. evnow

    evnow Active Member

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    Italy is a crazy place - imagine having Murdoch as the president of US ...
     
    #3 evnow, Sep 20, 2011
  4. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    It's about time we start making scientists accountable.

    Now we should go after mathematicians and their irrational numbers.

    Tom
     
    #4 qbee42, Sep 20, 2011
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  5. mmcdonal

    mmcdonal Active Member

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    It's nice to know that the Italian court system has scientifically verified earthquake prediction techniques. If the state wins the case, then they have settled an area of science that even dumb scientists haven't been able to figure out definitively - or even close.

    I can tell you what is going to happen now: scientists in this field are going to scream like chicken little whenever they get some positive data points until people come to ignore them, or sue them to recoup the costs of constantly bailing out of a danger zone, OR to recoup lower property values due to the constant state of caution. ALSO, these scientists will also need to purchase liability insurance in order to hold a job - or they will have to be indemnified by their employer. Lawyers are wonderful rent seekers.
     
    #5 mmcdonal, Sep 20, 2011
  6. TonyPSchaefer

    TonyPSchaefer Your Friendly Moderator
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    I read the headline and thought for sure this was in The Onion.

    Sad, sad day.
     
    #6 TonyPSchaefer, Sep 20, 2011
  7. Chuck.

    Chuck. Former Honda Enzyte Driver

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    If they can do that, why can't we sue the Wall Street investors for what they did in 2008?
     
    #7 Chuck., Sep 20, 2011
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  8. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    ... and the engineers charging real money for products designed with imaginary numbers.
     
    #8 fuzzy1, Sep 20, 2011
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  9. KK6PD

    KK6PD _ . _ . / _ _ . _

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    I wonder who they will find to blame the Alfa Romeo on?
     
    #9 KK6PD, Sep 20, 2011
  10. Skoorbmax

    Skoorbmax Senior Member

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    sounds like the sort of thing i"d read about in a third world country. Parts of Italy really are third world, though ;)
     
    #10 Skoorbmax, Sep 23, 2011
  11. ItsNotAboutTheMoney

    ItsNotAboutTheMoney EditProfOptInfoCustomUser Title

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    I don't know if they'd be able to win a case against the engineers. It's a complex matter.

    As for the quakes, seismology is the science of telling people how powerful the earthquake that just happened was. I expect that will come out in court. The Italian legal system is a mixed adversarial-inquisitorial system. In an inquisitorial system it could be more like a public inquiry than a trial: here they're considering whether the people involved were negligent.
     
    #11 ItsNotAboutTheMoney, Sep 23, 2011
  12. KK6PD

    KK6PD _ . _ . / _ _ . _

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    Maybe Amanda Knox knows when the next shake up in Italy will occur!
     
    #12 KK6PD, Sep 23, 2011
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