Underwater Homes

Far be it from me to tell anyone what they should be thinking, but I don’t know if people moving underwater is…feasible? Everyone’s very excited, and I’ve seen a million opinion pieces on why this is the future of humanity, but they’re all talking in broad terms. Like, they’re saying it’ll be good for the environment, and how it’ll be an exciting new venture, and a few of them have mentioned things like it being a new leap for science, but no one is saying exactly how. ‘Plexiglass dome’ gets tossed around a lot. ‘Renovated sunken ship’, also. But these are the unstable abodes of marine workers on TV show ‘Echolocation!’. They’re not the foundations of a functioning society.

And this is coming from someone who’s lived on a boat, in a little boat community. If you need to know the best place for anchor winches Melbourne has to offer, then I’m your top informant, because I grew up in that secluded ship community that was run like sort of a cult. I got out and now I live on dry land, but I know all there is to know about living at sea, and I know that humans are not made for it long term. Even with sea legs, terra firma just feels right.

Funnily enough, I still like boating…even have my own little vessel down at the docks, because you can take the girl out of the sea, and all that. I know all about outboard motors, and hoisting mainsails and the best hull materials, but I’m able to think critically about my family’s life exclusively at sea. Under the sea, as everyone is talking about? I just don’t think science is there yet. Everyone’s getting excited without actually thinking about the implications.

I remember the boat craze, when outboard motor repairs and servicing flowed like water, and I get that. It was a great way to get around. But moving your entire life into a submarine? That’s even worse than swearing to never touch land. It’s never gonna work.

-Marina