This is not dystopian at all, is it? Humans sleeping in pods. I guess it beats homelessness but this seems like a fail on epical levels (unless profits for these pod companies are what we care about).
This is not dystopian at all, is it? Humans sleeping in pods. I guess it beats homelessness but this seems like a fail on epical levels (unless profits for these pod companies are what we care about).
I’m not picking on you, but the comparison to Japan when I read about things like this makes me very uncomfortable. I don’t care that some people in Japan are comfortable staying in these things; I never want someone thinking this is acceptable for me to stay in. I don’t want living in a box this small to be socially acceptable. This is being pushed on people as the new normal instead of a motel or possibly an apartment and it feels dystopian. My standards for me and everyone else are higher than this.
As I commented further down, I don’t know if I would consider this an overall good thing. Is it better than being homeless? Yes. Is it better than a motel? Probably also yes.
Is it a good long-term solution? I don’t know that I can say either way, honestly. It doesn’t seem like a good long-term solution, but I have a lot of privilege, and perhaps my paradigm is biased.
And if something like this allows somebody to get on their feet, then maybe it’s bad long-term but good in the short-term. I brought up Japan not to say, “This works, because look at Japan,” but to point out that the “Western Ideal” isn’t the only solution, and we shouldn’t let cultural bias prevent consideration of other options or ideas.