5 ms·
I sat in on a lecture by a Stanford geophysicist, and he said that seismologists have every legal incentive to communicate that a large earthquake is imminent i
by mogadsheu 2y ago
I sat in on a lecture by a Stanford geophysicist, and he said that seismologists have every legal incentive to communicate that a large earthquake is imminent in the Bay, even if their work is inconclusive or suggests otherwise.
They might get sued or prosecuted if they say it’s safe and a big one strikes.
- Calvin02 2y agoThat seems odd. What would be the basis of such a lawsuit?
- colinb 2y agohttps://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/oct/22/scientists-convicted-manslaughter-earthquake https://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/oct/22/scientists-c... perhaps.
- Modified3019 2y agoWow that’s fucked up Edit: looks like they eventually were saved in appeals court https://www.nature.com/articles/515171a https://www.nature.com/articles/515171a and finally completely cleared after their Supreme Court ruling https://www.science.org/content/article/italy-s-supreme-court-clears-l-aquila-earthquake-scientists-good https://www.science.org/content/article/italy-s-supreme-cour... Still a lot of time and money wasted on absolute bullshit.
- shiroiushi 2y ago[flagged]
- peterleiser 2y agoThat was Italy, not the US.
- nextaccountic 2y agoAre there any other professional category that gets sued if they don't predict disaster within tight timing? Imagine suing epidemiologists because they didn't predict Covid-19 in a timely manner.
- karlgkk 2y agoNo epidemiologists were going around saying "eh it could never happen". In fact, many of them were warning after SARS. Trump actually took apart Obama's virus disaster-readiness warehouses and other programs in 2018-2019. Very bad timing, many such cases! I would suspect the majority of disaster-related experts are not going to be so laid back.
- astrange 2y ago[flagged]
- exe34 2y agoDo you have a screenshot or copy of such a video?
- vincnetas 2y agoEven if he has one. What is the credibility of "public health influencer". I could announce that i'm that kind of influencer and record you whatever video that generates engagement no mater the facts.
- exe34 2y agoWell it's different if he means Fauci, or some guy in his mom's basement. But yes, I do believe he was speaking from the wrong end, as Seneca might say.
- astrange 2y agoKeeping screenshots of that would be a weird hobby. I was thinking of tweets mostly. Here's the timeline of misguided Vox articles. https://www.vox.com/2020/2/7/21126758/coronavirus-xenophobia-racism-china-asians https://www.vox.com/2020/2/7/21126758/coronavirus-xenophobia... - early "the real pandemic is racism" stuff (note this is hard to find because the phrase was later totally overwritten by George Floyd/BLM protests) https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/2/13/21128209/coronavirus-fears-contagion-how-infection-spreads https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/2/13/21128209/coronavirus-fe... - people in Silicon Valley care too much There's some references to Berkeley health officers posting the kind of thing I mean, but they deleted it. Soon after, of course, everyone would switch to "it's real and it's here" and instead start giving out irrelevant health advice about handwashing because the CDC was biased towards treating everything like a food poisoning case. https://www.vox.com/2020/2/28/21157769/how-to-prevent-the-coronavirus https://www.vox.com/2020/2/28/21157769/how-to-prevent-the-co...
- sandspar 2y agoSimilarly, I've known of a psychic who was known for regularly making catastrophic earthquake predictions. Naturally he was wrong 99 times out of 100. But that 1 he got right was enough to build his whole career. "The Great Zambini, who predicted the 1998 earthquake"... People just forgot all his misses, only remembered his hit.
- peterleiser 2y agoThat will not happen in the US court system. Also, the Guardian article below about this happening to scientists was in the Italian court system, not the US.