This just takes the cake. I always figured it would be biologists first, but no, it’s the geologists.
Long story short, six scientists and a government official have been convicted of manslaughter for allowing the deaths of 309 people in an earthquake. The earthquake happened in L’Aquila in 2009. The court has been hearing the case for almost a year.
It took the judge 4 hours to come back with a guilty verdict.
The “good news”, if there is any in this sad story, is that Italy has an automatic appeals process and no punishment can begin until the appeals process is complete.
There are some really, really bad aspects to this though. First, of course, is that it sets an alarming and terrible precedent. It doesn’t matter if the court case was about the “inadequate characterization of risks” and “misleadingly reassuring about the dangers”. What this court has done is told scientists that, unless you are certain, don’t say anything.
Guess what. Science isn’t about certainty. The vast majority of science isn’t about certainty, it’s laced with probabilities. We can’t know when an earthquake, volcano, new disease, extinction, or anything like that will happen.
But if scientists don’t talk about, then nothing can happen. No new knowledge will be gained. What if medical professionals had to 100% certain that a procedure would both work and not do more harm than good? What if drug researchers had to be 100% certain that there would be no side-effects to a new drug? What if engineers had to be 100% certain that a structure would never fail? Heck, what if weathermen had to be 100% certain where a hurricane would hit before talking about it?
Nothing would ever happen. That’s what. Progress would stop. The human race would stagnate at the technology level we have now… and probably regress. Because no medical procedure, drug, building, or even food is 100% safe all the time to everyone.
I really hope that the appeals court gets this. These scientists are doing the best they can with the limited data we can get and the massively unpredictable nature of the planet.
