High cost of living? Try this one weird balloon / backpack tip from a snail.

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Background:

A “snail” is a slug-like creature with a shell on its back. Many snails can entirely retreat into their shells for protection, which lead people to describe the snail as “wearing its house on its back.” (This is not strictly accurate, since snails do not pay property tax.)

The Issue:

High cost of living is a major issue facing many citizens today. In some cities, the population has increased, but almost no new housing is being built. This can lead to severe competition over limited housing stock and may result in skyrocketing prices.

This is generally considered undesirable by renters and newcomers to the market.

Proposal:

The solution is simple: renters and newcomers to the housing market can simply wear a gigantic “shell house” on their back, thus completely removing the need to enter the housing market at all (Figure 1).

Fig. 1: Left: a snail (enlarged to show texture). Right: a human, carrying a snail-inspired “shell house.”

This would be similar to living in in an RV (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recreational_vehicle), but there are many restrictions on where RVs can be parked, and, additionally, an RV is a depreciating asset that may be expensive to maintain.

One obvious objection is that a home is heavy. Would it really be practical for a person to carry all the amenities required for home on their back? Let’s estimate that a minimalist “shell home” can be provisioned in 1,000 lbs (~450 kg).

This is obviously far too heavy for a human to carry, but there’s a solution: increase the volume of the shell home by a factor of ~1000, and fill the majority of it with lighter-than-air helium gas (Figure 2).

Fig. 2: Thanks to the helium gas in this shell home, the “total weight” of the home that must actually be carried by the user is less than 100 pounds: a 10x reduction!

Conclusion:

The plan above results in a “shell home” that is approximately the same size as a small hot air balloon, and weighs less than 100 pounds. Although this would be impractical in many cities, it would be feasible in a sparsely-populated farmlands and wilderness regions.

PROS: This may bring the possibility of home ownership to younger generations who have been “locked out” of the traditional housing market by high prices and limited stock.

CONS: None! The existence of the hot air balloon is proof that this plan is entirely feasible and has no downsides.

Originally published 2024-08-19.