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GM’s CEO Offers to Make Ventilators in WWII-Style Mobilization

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Re: GM’s CEO Offers to Make Ventilators in WWII-Style Mobilization

#31

Post by vvanders »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #27
lightgreen wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Elon Musk does not owe people anything. If he decides to produce them, that's fine, but he doesn't have to. But the governments should buy these ventilators from private companies, so private companies like Tesla or GM were incentivized to produce these ventilators. Edit: added and then removed a comment about downvotes

The point is not whether or not Musk owes it to anyone. But that some people claim to be making the world a better place, and others batten down and actually do make the world a better place. And usually the latter is a lot less glamorous than the former.

Yeah, I'm as big of a Tesla fan as you'll find but the lack of closing the factory in one of the epicenters has really lowered my opinion of his leadership.

While I understand he's one to zig when everyone zags I feel like this will be a case where it will become clear that it was a bad call.

Re: GM’s CEO Offers to Make Ventilators in WWII-Style Mobilization

#32

Post by hdjejdjd »

lightgreen wrote: post #24
alex_young wrote: post #9

This is what Musk should be doing.

Elon Musk does not owe people anything. If he decides to produce them, that's fine, but he doesn't have to. But the governments should buy these ventilators from private companies, so private companies like Tesla or GM were incentivized to produce these ventilators. Edit: added and then removed a comment about downvotes

LOL and you make comments about virtue signaling what a joke.

Re: GM’s CEO Offers to Make Ventilators in WWII-Style Mobilization

#33

Post by MichaelApproved »

lightgreen wrote: post #24
alex_young wrote: post #9

This is what Musk should be doing.

Elon Musk does not owe people anything. If he decides to produce them, that's fine, but he doesn't have to. But the governments should buy these ventilators from private companies, so private companies like Tesla or GM were incentivized to produce these ventilators. Edit: added and then removed a comment about downvotes

> if you decided to downvote, please at least explain why. Because I don't believe lefts conquered the HN.

I downvoted because you assumed it was the “lefts” who were downvoting you.

Re: GM’s CEO Offers to Make Ventilators in WWII-Style Mobilization

#35

Post by syntaxing »

This is definitely great and uplifting news but I am not sure why GM or Ford is the one on top of list for this endeavor? There are a bunch of second source assembly houses that build medical equipment for the big players. Seems like it would make more sense for them to build it with some sort of FDA fast pass.

Discretion, I work for a carmaker company but my opinion is of my own only.

Re: GM’s CEO Offers to Make Ventilators in WWII-Style Mobilization

#36

Post by wyattpeak »

chii wrote: post #15
caymanjim wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is pure hindsight. This didn't warrant that kind of response in January, not by a longshot. In January it looked exactly like the other comparatively minor respiratory viruses that pop up every few years. We can't shut down industry and retool factories just in case.

the correct response should look like an overreaction in hindsight. But it's tough to explain the cost of the overreaction if said overreaction prevented all of these problems. I make the analogy with an engineer receiving accolades for fixing bugs and outages with heroic effort. But the engineer that creates trouble free code, that never has any problems, but takes a long time to create code that's bug free seems to…

Yes, it probably will look like an overreaction, but that doesn't provide carte-blanche to overreact every time there's a new virus.

As GP mentioned, this happens every few years. Most of the time, it fizzles out. We can't transition all production to hospital equipment every few years, even if it is the right call twice a century.

I have often reprimanded (and have in turn been reprimanded) for overengineering a solution to a problem which just needed a quick fix, because it's not often appropriate to dedicate a lot of resources to ensuring that there are no possible errors. If it is, I'll ask for that specifically.

Re: GM’s CEO Offers to Make Ventilators in WWII-Style Mobilization

#37

Post by dmix »

woofyman wrote: post #34
alex_young wrote: post #9

This is what Musk should be doing.

Musk thinks it’s hype https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1239756900255903744

That's an overstatement of what he said. He had been posting about possible medical treatments [1], which is why the tweet you linked to starts with "That said" before talking about panicking and redirecting medical resources away from people who need it.

Do you know why? The drug he was posting about before that tweet, `chloroquine`, is already facing shortages around the globe for people already on it for non-COVID-19 treatments, including people suffering from Lupus [2].

He probably got attacked for promoting it in previous tweets, which is the likely context of the one you linked to, and is regardless a very valid concern for a popular figure tweeting about possible treatments. I've seen others telling people to be cautious promoting it, as we don't need people also needlessly hoarding a critical drug which is quickly becoming a frontline treatment for Coronavirus.

[1] https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1239776019856461824

[2] https://twitter.com/search?q=lupus%20shortage

Re: GM’s CEO Offers to Make Ventilators in WWII-Style Mobilization

#38

Post by matheweis »

manigandham wrote: post #18
caymanjim wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is pure hindsight. This didn't warrant that kind of response in January, not by a longshot. In January it looked exactly like the other comparatively minor respiratory viruses that pop up every few years. We can't shut down industry and retool factories just in case.

We cancelled international travel plans in mid-January because of the expanding virus within China and the first cases in other countries. It was clear by then that there was no containment and the spread was underway. The federal govt has even more insight than average people watching the news and should've acted aggressively in closing borders and improving capacity. US (and EU) have reacted terribly late to all of…

> The federal govt has even more insight than average people watching the news

We'd like to believe this, but are we sure it is true? The internet and social media have given us realtime global connectivity. Sans filtering out disinformation and accessing truly classified information, we have it all at our fingertips.

> ... and should've acted aggressively in closing borders and improving capacity.

I was laying in bed in January, laid up with the flu, and all I was reading about was this virus and what it was doing to China. I didn't call my representatives to warn them, did you? I think that we Americans should take more responsibility for our self-government than we currently do.

Re: GM’s CEO Offers to Make Ventilators in WWII-Style Mobilization

#39

Post by hodgesrm »

This is how to respond to big challenges. There are going to be a lot of comments about how we messed up, wasted time, etc., but they miss the point.

The WWII mobilization was a shitshow when it started. Kaiser Shipyards in Richmond, California turned out ships at an amazing rate [1] but it didn't begin that way. I remember hearing a story many years ago of what it was like when they first started. People were wandering around trying to figure out what to do, because nobody could read a blueprint. In the end some kid who had had a couple of years of college just sat down with older guys and they figured it out. (This was on NPR, sorry don't have the source.)

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richmond_Shipyards

Re: GM’s CEO Offers to Make Ventilators in WWII-Style Mobilization

#40

Post by lightgreen »

vvanders wrote: post #31
ocdtrekkie wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point is not whether or not Musk owes it to anyone. But that some people claim to be making the world a better place, and others batten down and actually do make the world a better place. And usually the latter is a lot less glamorous than the former.

Yeah, I'm as big of a Tesla fan as you'll find but the lack of closing the factory in one of the epicenters has really lowered my opinion of his leadership. While I understand he's one to zig when everyone zags I feel like this will be a case where it will become clear that it was a bad call.

I guess people at the factory do few close contacts which can lead to virus transmission. And I guess they are supplied with hand sanitizers and handwashing is mandatory.

On the other hand, people get paid, the factory is saved from bankruptcy so people can continue working in the factory even after the end of the outbreak.

I'm not sure that closing the factory is a universally good decision for society.

Edit: English

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