[Luis Dias]

I guess they just missed so much the times when they persecuted scientists like Galileo.

Now why the hell is there not a full uprising in the internets over this issue? I am no geologist, nor a scientist, but damn I want blood. I want people to hereby proclaim Italy as being a third world country right now. Hell, that would be an insult towards very respectable third world countries...

[Klaustrophobia]

no idea what you're talking about mate.

[An4ximandros]

Do you mind providing some freaking context please? Right now you seem to be getting all in an uproar about nothing.

[Luis Dias]

Jesus, what is this? Is this the internet or not?

What the hell mates.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505263_162-57537140/italian-scientists-on-trial-for-failing-to-predict-deadly-quake/

They were convicted. 6 years.

[An4ximandros]

We ask for context, you just made a thread spewing forth vile froth towards us Luis.

That said, in context, what you said is correct, it is a load of feces that this mockery of justice carried forth.
 However, you should never EVER reduce yourself to the level of the mindless, soulless mass that bough about this atrocity of law.

Edit: Furthermore, the nonsensical logic of this leads me to the belief that we should arrest and charge the economists who were unable to predict the economic collapse of the current century.

[Commander Zane]

I guess they just missed so much the times when they persecuted scientists like Galileo.

Because these seismologists were denouncing geocentricism. Right.

[Luis Dias]

We ask for context, you just made a thread spewing forth vile froth towards us Luis.

Thy ask for it! ARRRRRR!!!

(never take me too seriously)

It is *all over* the news today. And twitter.

Because these seismologists were denouncing geocentricism. Right.

Apparently, if they cannot see the future in your insides they are to be thrown in lion pits.

FORREAL.

Seriously though. Galileo was convicted for his theories, and so were these men. This is completely ludicrous and the Nets should be enraged. Italy is, for all is worth, a fourth world country from now on. Not even in Iran this **** happens, for chrissakes.

[headdie]

It's a bit light on details to form any real judgment, my fuzzy recollections on general seismology suggest the verdict unfair but as it is a field which I have no major interest in and I have 0 knowledge on the local plate environments I can't say if that opinion holds up.

[Bobboau]

you know, I would be fine with this if they were to also convict the Pope for failing to have God intervene in preventing the earthquake to begin with.

[deathfun]

you know, I would be fine with this if they were to also convict the Pope for failing to have God intervene in preventing the earthquake to begin with.

I spewed milk all over my desk

Note to self, don't read this forum while eating breakfast.

[Bobboau]

keikaku doori

[headdie]

here is one, arnt events like earthquakes classified as "acts of god"?

[Luis Dias]

here is one, arnt events like earthquakes classified as "acts of god"?

YES. Yes they are! By the insurance companies themselves.

[Scotty]

I'm glad insurance terminology is how this should be decided.  I mean, it's not like insurance tries to **** over anyone else, given the opportunity (deliberate or not).

[Luis Dias]

So how would you decide this?

[NGTM-1R]

For starters I'd like to know if they were actually employed to do what they're being accused of not doing, or otherwise took positive action that can be construed as not doing what they're being accused of not doing.

[Luis Dias]

Basically what happened was this:

These people were experts in seismic risk assessment. Predicting earthquakes is pretty much impossible, but there is a good deal of literature and data of quakes. So there were these little quakes in this part of Italy, and people were asking if this was a matter of worry. Seismologists were reached and they gave the assessment that little quakes were not necessarily indications of a large quake. They also said that predicting quakes was near to impossible. This was said on TV. And then a few days later, a 6.3 quake hit those towns.

So these guys were convicted of manslaughter! ****ing manslaughter!!!

5000 scientists petitioned the court for this witch hunt to be over, but they were shunned. Hilariously (or not at all), the judge decided in just two hours that these really evil people should be put in jail for more two years than the prosecution even asked for!

I say we burn the judge as if this is 1250. Because he is acting as if it is.

[Scotty]

"Experts in seismic risk assessment"
"gave their assessment that little quakes were not necessarily indications of a large quake"
*Large quake hits*

I'd say they whiffed pretty damn bad.  There's a certain brand of covering your ass that is exactly what people want to hear and is simultaneously not incorrect.  They showed pretty terrible judgement in that respect.

[Bobboau]

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Backchannels/2012/1022/Earthquake-predictions-and-a-triumph-of-scientific-illiteracy-in-an-Italian-court

I like the CSM's wording

[Luis Dias]

Yeah, how dare scientists give the proper risk assessment that their models indicate.

Much better to fearmonger everything and cover their asses! Hey science guy, is there any chance for a flood this year? ABSOLUTELY YEAH! although my model predicts it at 0.00001%, YOU SHOULD ALL FLEEEEEEEE

edit: from Bobboau's link:

Joel Cohen, a professor at Columbia and Rockefeller universities who applies mathematical models to complex environmental problems, explained how the decision was made in a piece earlier this year:

Italy’s National Commission for Prediction and Prevention of Major Risks, which comprised the seven men now on trial, met in L’Aquila for one hour on March 31, 2009, to assess the earthquake swarms. According to the minutes, Enzo Boschi, President of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, was asked if they were precursors to an earthquake resembling the one in 1703. He replied: “It is unlikely that an earthquake like the one in 1703 could occur in the short term, but the possibility cannot be totally excluded (emphasis added).”

Six days later disaster struck. Should Mr. Boschi and his colleagues pay for this? And what would have happened if he'd said "there is a high probability of a major earthquake at some point in the next year?" Would the city of 70,000 have been evacuated? And what if no earthquake came in a year? Would Boschi have been sued for damages?

Insane.