111–120 of 148 posts
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calling Elon
Elon has been consistently playing down the risk from coronavirus/ https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/13/21179291/elon-musk-corona...
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The evidence was presented 50 years ago under the label of Soviet Union. USSR couldn’t produce shit.
During crisis times wild [T-34]( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-34 ) appears and overwhelms with numbers and firepower/versatility
British empire did war mostly on the sea, so US and British Empire were much better at producing ships, aircrafts, and also radio, radars and other electronics.
Tanks is good but it is much less important than strategy, logistics, food, drugs and saving human lives.
USSR killed a huge number of own citizens (including execution of so called deserters). Well, good for the rest of allies.
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The evidence was presented 50 years ago under the label of Soviet Union. USSR couldn’t produce shit.
It often couldn't figure out how to produce enough of the right things -- pricing signals were better across a wide variety of consumer goods. It did pretty well at some things. Pricing signals are also bad at some things. Saying "the government is bad at producing things" is an overgeneralization. It'd be bad to put it in charge of producing everything . But putting markets in charge of producing everything has poin…
No it doesn’t. As soon as governments clearly states that they want to purchase a hundred billion masks and ventilators, market will react very quickly.
They government did not post that request yet.
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If that's the case we need a whole DIY course of treatment, not just the machine itself. Playing doctor with only the tools and none of the rest is going to be a losing game. :(
1. There’s no treatment other than supportive care. 2. Ventilators aren’t dumb iron lung machines. Current ventilators are large, complex and very much specialized machines which require special training to operate. Once you get to the point you need a ventilator the ventilator is the least of your problems.
But really, I think this "home care in case the hospitals are full" thing is a pipe dream. A uniquely American pipe dream. For one thing, how are you going to hydrate and feed your loved one while they're on your homemade ventilator? Do you know how to insert an IV? Do you have saline solution on-hand? Ventilated patients in the hospital are being sedated, to my understanding. Do you have an anesthetist on hand to manage that? Etc. The American impulse to independence and prepping is so silly sometimes.
The only practical use for these ventilators is in a hospital context, employed by real doctors and nurses. And then only if the number of available ventilators ends up being the bottleneck (as opposed to the amount of healthcare worker labor available or some other factor). Any other imagined use is just a safety blanket, IMO.
This probably should have gone on the thread about flattening the curve not being enough. But. Where is the core team of 12 people plus 108 collaborators that should have been assembled a month and a half ago to figure out how to retune US manufacturing to start producing stripped down ICU beds and the supplies needed to keep them operational? This game is easy. The parameters are well understood. You could assign th…
all medical startups are legal heavy, there's not much space for gung-ho attitudes.
imagine the shitstorm that would ensue if someone dies on a makeshift ventilator. and they will, because being ventilated gives no guarantee of survival.
This probably should have gone on the thread about flattening the curve not being enough. But. Where is the core team of 12 people plus 108 collaborators that should have been assembled a month and a half ago to figure out how to retune US manufacturing to start producing stripped down ICU beds and the supplies needed to keep them operational? This game is easy. The parameters are well understood. You could assign th…
My employers are industrial equipment dealers who remember WW2, and the pivoting of industrial production that it took to win the war.
We can still make a major difference if we are able to manufacture open source ventilators en masse.
What am I doing about it? First I'm reaching out to the engineering departments of two major academic institutions to find local engineering leads that can help in conceiving or identifying sound open source plans for a ventilator. The goal being to find consensus and validate a ventilator design that we can mass produce as fast as possible in North America. In parallel we would reach out to our provincial government to pitch this initiative. For this to be a success we need local as well as national government support. Not delegating the work to government but rather getting their legal support.
My employers know some local manufacturers, some in the USA, and in Mexico; all of them capable of manufacturing various parts as well as assembling on site. The knowledge, equipment, and production facilities are scattered. We just have to identify who can do what part in their shop as per plans that have been reviewed and approved. Ultimately we could use this production model for all essential equipment to fight Covid-19.
About patents. No patents were required during WW2 if governments had to produce equipment that would win the war. The Covid-19 pandemic might be worst than war so to win it patents should not be an impediment.
There are multiple online forums where a low-cost or open source ventilators are being discussed. I'm not seeking to add noise to this very important endeavour but I do feel the need to at least contribute towards a coordinated, structured effort.
I'm actively searching for open source ventilator initiatives all over the world to identify the most promising ones: I need your help in getting this done, the world needs your help, so please reach out via opensourceventilator@gmail.com along with your suggestions and advice.
Last but not least, I just registered opensourceventilator.org and will gladly donate it if needed to centralize efforts in this fight.
Thank you for taking the time to read this, good night, and have a pleasant tomorrow.
PS: Elon, how ya doing?
What we really need is a simple ventilator, designed by manufacturers who already know how to design and build these and produced at enormous scale using a shadow factory system similar to that developed in world war 2. In this model, the original manufacturer steps in to guide production, carry out quality control and probably supply the control electronics and software. All physical objects on which our civilisatio…
Devil's advocate: Why would a manufacturer consider damaging what is a potential mega cash cow? I read earlier that ventilators generally sell for $40-70,000USD to hospitals (who then go on to charge $20-40k for ventilator based treatment.) We're much better off right now with the government seizing the means of production and figuring out how to make as many as possible.
The last thing we want is for "the government" to go around seizing production capacity from companies that have successfully produced these units for decades. When you imagine "the government", don't imagine your ideal policitian in a cape - you should imagine the bloke down at the local tax office who keeps opening obvious malware emails.
Corporations are not your faceless enemy, they're the ones who've helped your hospitals become amazing in the last few decades.
What we really need is a simple ventilator, designed by manufacturers who already know how to design and build these and produced at enormous scale using a shadow factory system similar to that developed in world war 2. In this model, the original manufacturer steps in to guide production, carry out quality control and probably supply the control electronics and software. All physical objects on which our civilisatio…
Devil's advocate: Why would a manufacturer consider damaging what is a potential mega cash cow? I read earlier that ventilators generally sell for $40-70,000USD to hospitals (who then go on to charge $20-40k for ventilator based treatment.) We're much better off right now with the government seizing the means of production and figuring out how to make as many as possible.
There's no way the current problem is only the price, for sure they are already trying to sell the most they can, they simply can't produce enough of them. Allowing some kind of shadow production, handled by the manufacturer can only means much more product made thus sold. It's a win-win for both the manufacturer and the government.
> We're much better off right now with the government seizing the means of production and figuring out how to make as many as possible.
Sure that would work, but that's always been true for anything. If the government could seize production, it would be "cheaper" to produce because the cost of R&D and production has been already done. That's not healthy though, that will now be an added risk in the industry that will have a cost to be mitigated.
Lets works together, not against eachother.
This probably should have gone on the thread about flattening the curve not being enough. But. Where is the core team of 12 people plus 108 collaborators that should have been assembled a month and a half ago to figure out how to retune US manufacturing to start producing stripped down ICU beds and the supplies needed to keep them operational? This game is easy. The parameters are well understood. You could assign th…
Here is one. I have the experience, network and know how to make any medical device one would want. What do you want to make? Let's do it
If you're interested we are working on various mechanical ventilator designs which don't require actuators or electronics. There are actually devices like that in the market, you can learn more in our collaboration docs: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1R25O2mKT3TfSjXTmheGEevIk... Edit: Another design we're considering based on an Army prototype: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Hcuu-55q2a3_-LmBwg0uBdgM... If y…
As a member of that group, I honestly wonder what use our work will be due to regulations. Most hospitals cannot use uncertified equipment or software. I think however that there might be a large policy shift where these projects may become acceptable for use after some new or temporary legislation in 1-2 months. At that time, the projects may be extremely valuable
“Uncertified ventilated vs dead” is not decision.