Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Too Bad to Be True?





We’re all familiar with the ‘too good to be true’ axiom, but unfortunately the opposite is sometimes true.  What I’m about to tell you defies human comprehension.

An Italian court has just convicted six prominent scientists and a government official of manslaughter.  Their crime: failing to predict an earthquake.  Their sentence: six years in prison.

That sound you hear is the stampede of scientists racing to flee the country.  Click here for the story.

I wonder what's next - prosecuting finance professors for failing to predict any future market corrections, economic recessions, or budget crises.  Or how about jailing the astronomers for failing to predict any meteor strikes. 

Hopefully, during the almost-certain-to-occur appeals process, one judge with an ounce of decency and commonsense can be found to reverse this perverse ruling.

2 comments:

  1. I can't believe that happened. I heard it on the radio and had to get my hearing checked. Frickin' bananas.

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  2. It's crazy. Who can predict an earthquake? Does Italy believe that criminalizing the (lack of) supply of the unknown will suddenly increase the supply of the unknown?

    Things like this suddenly makes living in America okay again. We have our share of problems, but compared to the Italians, we're normal.

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