OK. here is my incredibly weird perspective on those pods. I like them. Recently I even stayed in one and the only complaint I have is that they are made of plastic and would squeak horrible whenever the person above me moved. I like small enclosed spaces, they make me feel safe, and if the pod was made out of wood or concrete then I would absolutely live in one, as long as there were adequate services nearby: like a kitchen and a bathroom.
They don't take up a lot of space allowing for more people to live in a single house. They offer enough privacy to be comfortable and as an anarchist I welcome the chance to live alongside other people. My apartment is a mess because I cannot bring myself to clean it. Having other people to share responsibilities with would solve that.
a political rant
They way we live reflect our politics. Every moment of our lives we are interacting with society. The way we interact reinforces our behaviours. Living in an apartment with just your family or a couple of room-mates reinforces individualism. It forces everyone to do everything equally because you could change who you're living with. You cannot divide up chores to the ones you're comfortable with because everyone should do everything.
I would love to live in a socialist living space that had these pods (not made of plastic of course), because it would allow me to live my life in a way that feels more in line with my ideology and beliefs. We are not just individuals looking out for ourselves but a collective, a society.
(Anyway it's rather late writing this and if I had any good sense left I would delete it for being too much but fuck it)
I spent one day almost entierly in my pod watching youtube, just like I would at home. For me the pod is my private space. But I understand that most people probably find it too cramped, I imagine in an actual living arrangement there would need to be private common rooms.