Something incredible has happened in Italy that’s a scary precedent for “scientists”, being held accountable.
“The people of L’Aquila, Italy had been feeling tremors in late March. One local man, who was not a scientist, made the prediction that a big one was on its way. Responding to the man (who was not a scientist) on March 31, the group of scientists concluded it was ‘improbable’ that the area would experience a major earthquake, ‘although they stopped short of entirely excluding the possibility.'”
Then, a couple of weeks later, on April 6, a magnitude 6.3 earthquake killed more than 300 people.
One issue: the correct prophet, the “man who was not a scientist“, felt the tremors, analyzed them, and correctly predicted what would happen. The “real scientists” disagreed. People listened to the “real scientists”. 300 of them died, mostly crushed to death because they stayed inside a lot of old, fragile, stone buildings.
Then, a scary precedent for “scientists”, being held accountable, took place:
“Six Italian scientists and an ex-government official have been sentenced to six years in prison over the 2009 deadly earthquake in L’Aquila. A regional court found them guilty of multiple manslaughter. Prosecutors had said the defendants gave a falsely reassuring statement before the quake after studying tremors that had shaken the city.”
The result has offended liberals all over the world. One leftist at the New York Times “called the trial “a medieval-style attack on science.” Why? Simply because the “scientists” were held responsible for the deaths they caused. Is that so wrong? People who make unsafe things from drugs to cars are sued if their products cause harm. Should people who produce deadly conclusions have the same standard of care as, say, a soap manufacturer?
One wonders if this scary precedent for “scientists”, being held accountable, will continue to other types of very real damages. Will the Global Warming “scientists” be held liable for all the money wasted on the scams associated with it? Will the “scientists” who sounded alarms about the “deadly ozone hole” be charged with fraud benefiting freon manufacturers? Will those who put people out of work with spotted owl lies be held responsible?
It may be that “scientists” will be held liable for the results of their errors. That’s a scary precedent for “scientists”, being held accountable. And, it’s not only a scary precedent for “scientists”, but also, for those who hire them to come up with “proof” of hurtful effects, as they did with ozone.
Five thousand “scientists” whined and complained. “The bottom line, as 5,000 scientists wrote to Italy’s president in an open letter, is that “there is currently no scientifically accepted method for short-term earthquake prediction.”
If that’s true, doesn’t it prove that the scientists who said there wouldn’t be a quake were guilty of willful error, making a prediction they had no business making?
If this case gains traction, humanity may be vastly better off. The very heart of our largest frauds, the illusion of scientific credibility, has been identified and held accountable. If this case can be duplicated, we’ll be besieged with far fewer Imaginary Problems and far, far more at peace.
And, we won’t have so many “scientists” making so many mistakes.
