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Italian scientists guilty of manslaughter for failure to predict earthquake

Discussion in 'Chit Chat' started by Dan82, Oct 22, 2012.

  1. Dan82

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    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20025626


     
  2. vyvance

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    That's pretty stupid.
     
  3. FJ Cruiser

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    This, along with other stories, just proves how corrupt the Italian legal system is.
     
  4. Mogget

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    Ridiculous. Seismologists have never, and probably will never, been able to predict earthquakes.
     
  5. Ticklish Fish

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    lol. I thought the formula/equation for earthquake predction is still in the work and not 100% fail proof. DAFUQ?
     
  6. Cassandra

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    Interestingly enough, it was stupid on higher levels. Not just because no one is able to predict earthqakes (with enough time to get prepared), but also, to be charged with manslaughter you need to have the intention to kill people trough your actions, wich can't be proved on a case like this.

    At best, the could be acussed (still stupid they get condemned for that) for an unintentional crime.
     
  7. Mogget

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    I don't know about Italian law, but in the US the state of mind required for manslaughter is recklessness, not intent.
     
  8. Cassandra

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    I know, but as far as I know, Italy has a Roman-Canonical law sistem, like Mexico, so the poena theory should be the same. Guess I needed that Legal-Technical Italian class after all :slight_smile:
     
  9. I have a why face right now.
     
  10. putresVigil

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    After the prosecutor in that murder case involving the threesome years back tried to link it in his closing statement to satanic worship, I am not surprised by anything crazy that comes out of Italy anymore. As religious as the US can sometimes be I can't remember a time that Satanic worship was cited, straight faced, in a court room or given to the press as a valid justification. What are we, living in a seventies horror movie now?

    Also, way to scare any science interested kids away from the field of disaster prevention science. If every geologist who works on predicting earthquakes is going to be held liable if his prediction is wrong you will have far fewer people going for that job.
     
  11. gordilocks

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    i thought manslaughter was when you don't mean to kill them? :confused:
     
  12. Jared

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    This makes me ashamed to be Italian. How can people be that stupid??? I hope I never have to deal with the Italian legal system, it sounds horrible.
     
  13. cita

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    Good one, Italy. Now let them out, joke's over.
     
  14. Rakkaus

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    Italy's government is an all-around joke. Kind of amusing actually, unless you are one of the victims of its stupidity.
     
  15. rg93

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    Dammit, I knew that I was going to read some stupid crap before the day ends. :bang:

    I am pretty sure that the technology used to monitor and predict earthquakes isn't magic, It's actually still pretty unreliable. In this case, using science as an early warning system is a luxery and not a privilege.

    Although I don't think the scientist should have said "yeah, it's fine" but more like "I'm not sure, but it doesn't look like sh*t's going down".

    It doesn't matter, Italy is, as Rakkaus already stated, an all-round joke. And a pretty bad one, too! They take their stupid crap seriously though, I'll give them that. :rolle:
     
  16. Zontar

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    What a frightening precedent! Since when was anyone owed what cannot be guaranteed? I'm disheartened to see this entitlement mentality extends well beyond America.
     
  17. SohoDreamer

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    A good portion of the Government in Italy is owned by the Mafia. It's kind of like Russia, to lesser extremes.
     
  18. Vesper

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    The BBC article had a line that pretty much sums it up perfectly:
    Emphasis mine.

    My biggest fear is that this case will further embolden anti-science bigots all over the world to launch similar stunts in the future. Hell, they're already at it in the US, with "intelligent design" (friendly, repackaged version of creationism) proponents successfully putting ID in science textbooks and people like Todd Akin (a member of the House Science Committee, no less!) making outrageous claims about rape based on bunk science, so god forbid that people like them get so bold that they start thinking they can sue scientists for failing to accurately predict every major weather or seismic event that causes casualties.

    Something else that pisses me off is people who disdain doctors and hospitals, but I'm not going to go far into that because I'm in a bad enough mood as it is. I will say this: if diagnosing conditions like cancer in the human body is a process fraught with uncertainty, can you imagine the difficulty inherent in trying to predict the exact locations and intensities of earthquakes on the surface of PLANET EARTH?
     
    #18 Vesper, Oct 22, 2012
    Last edited: Oct 22, 2012
  19. confuzzled82

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    Though I suppose they technically predate the United States, there were the Salem Witch trials...
     
  20. BradThePug

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    Wow... that's really stupid. It dosen't surprise me that this happened in Italy.