Visiting the deserted Geneva Motor Show, empty due to coronavirus concerns

[pesco]

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/03/03/visiting-the-deserted-geneva-m.html

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[Thermironic]

It’s an interesting view of trade shows that most people don’t get to see (unless you’re on the other side of the booth and show up early for setup, or you show up early for the show and find an open door). The amount of setup required just to be ready for the vendors to arrive and do the final setup and then the amount of teardown required after the vendors have repacked their shipping cartons is all quite impressive. (It’s pretty wasteful of materials too, but that’s a different matter and recycling efforts have improved over the past number of years.)

[Papasan]

I saw a guy coughing and sweating in the background.

[anon47741163]

Tiny violins play for the automakers so inconvenienced. For the rest of the world, our carbon future is ever so slightly less hopeless.

[DukeTrout]

The video showed mostly manufacturers who are largely converting over to EVs or are EV startups.

[anon47741163]

Electic cars do one single thing better than gasoline cars. They still put people in steel and glass boxes moving dangerously fast, through landscapes that have been converted to asphalt deserts. And the embedded energy costs for EVs arent any better than for gas cars.

So… I’m still not a fan of car culture, no matter what fuels it.

[DukeTrout]

@anon47741163

Electic cars do one single thing better than gasoline cars. They still put people in steel and glass boxes moving dangerously fast, through landscapes that have been converted to asphalt deserts. And the embedded energy costs for EVs arent any better than for gas cars.

It sounds like your main problem is urban areas, not cars. Also, EVs can be much, much better than ICE vehicles - if the electricity source is sustainable (such as where I live, where there are no fossil fuel power plants).

@SteveBosman

People are dying all the time. Is everything related to people dying now out of bounds?

The line @Mindysan33 had a problem with (as did I) was the Malthusian BS about the planet getting cleaner due to a major die-off of humans. Big difference between that and people dying at the same rate due to a different cause.

[Mindysan33]

People are actively dying, right now. It’s an actual threat right now, this very moment.

I have no problem with being anti-car and think it’s an important issue that we as a planet need to discuss. But saying that people dying (especially when our own government is clearly going to actively make this worse and vulnerable communities are going to suffer) has a silver lining on a debatable issue like our transportation infrastructure is very much a shitty take, yes.

You are welcome to say whatever you like, of course. You are not welcome to expect me to shut up if I think it’s a shitty take. That’s the give and take for having a platform and a discussion forum. Sorry if you don’t like it.

@DukeTrout

the Malthusian BS

Right? It’s utter anti-humanistic bullshit. Plain and simple.

[SteveBosman]

Are you reading something different to me?
This is what I saw:

@sidb

Eff cars, they ruin everything. Even the EVs still ruin almost everything. Did you hear that the world’s biggest petro conference was canceled in Houston next week? And air pollution in China is down to levels not seen in ages? This virus thing has some silver lining.

Where is the Malthusian BS?

[Mindysan33]

I will point out… from our own dear moderator here…

General Moderation Topic

While one can find “good things” in almost any action “Hey, air pollution from airlines was down 90% after 9/11! Woo!”, stating such does little more than to downplay and minimize the vastly, vastly more negative effects such tragic actions have. The same holds true for COVID-19. Posts suggesting that “at least this will come out of this outbreak” will be eaten with prejudice. Don’t go there. Thank you.

So again, saying that the decrease in air pollution is a “silver lining” when people are sick and dying, the economy is crashing, and all sorts of other problematic side effects is really gross and malthusian. YMMV.