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and why shouldn't the responsible be liable?

Reparations are OK for some things, but not for causing worldwide pandemics?

..the point of the grandparent post is that if we emphasise _liability_, it's less likely we'll get any information.

This is a common understanding in industries dealing with safety. If you want to _punish_, focus on blame. If you want to focus on _helping ensure the problem doesn't happen again_, remove the threat of blame.

Also, mentioning reparations brings up ideas of ...current US political discussion... and is likely to polarise this discussion. Please try and keep this productive.

We are WAAAAY past the industry problem. It's not a faulty Boeing or improperly constructed nuclear plant.

This a problem of global proportions. We've had protracted wars over much smaller things in the past.

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