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Not_mikey@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

desires a system where the larger ~~and stronger~~ crabs should have their pick of the housing market and ~~less powerful~~ (smaller) crabs simply have to take whatever smaller, ~~less desirable~~ housing is left over.

Power and strength have nothing to do with it, they aren’t fighting over who gets the bigger shell, they’re trading.

Smaller doesn’t mean less desirable, otherwise the small crabs would not give up the big shell voluntarily. They want a shell that fits there size, not the biggest one.

This system takes into account size as opposed to our current housing system, which is all about power (in the form of wealth). We’d be better off if we considered size as we have a lot of small families in big houses (empty nesters) and big families in small houses (families just starting off in a small apt) and redistribution those could help both parties.

The problem is that we are in a “bigger is better” mindset, and that empty nest family doesn’t want to give up their house even though they don’t need it.

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partial_accumen@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

desires a system where the larger and stronger crabs should have their pick of the housing market and less powerful (smaller) crabs simply have to take whatever smaller, less desirable housing is left over.

Power and strength have nothing to do with it, they aren’t fighting over who gets the bigger shell, they’re trading.

If there are two crabs each with a need for the large shell, they will fight over it. Power of the winner can absolutely determines the outcome of who gets the shell (or who may die trying).

“In the field, we also occasionally observed 2 or 3 tug-of-war queues radiating out from a single vacant shell, with the largest crabs in each queue struggling to gain controlof the vacant shell. Such tug-of-wars between multiple queues appeared to inhibit vacancy chains as in some cases this situation lasted up to 4h without any crabs moving into the vacant shell. These findings indicate that the formation of hermit crab queues and other linear dominance hierarchies involves more complex social interactions than previously thought(Chaseetal.2002).”

source: Social context of shell acquisition in Coenobita clypeatus hermit crabs.PDF

Smaller doesn’t mean less desirable, [snip] They want a shell that fits there size, not the biggest one.

It doesn’t always, but it can absolutely mean less desirable. If two equal size crabs both have a need for the larger shell, and there is only one larger shell, then shells that are too small are less desirable (undesired?).

otherwise the small crabs would not give up the big shell voluntarily.

Apparently there are circumstances when the smaller crab doesn’t give up voluntarily, and is instead ripped in half by the larger crab.

This system takes into account size as opposed to our current housing system, which is all about power (in the form of wealth). We’d be better off if we considered size as we have a lot of small families in big houses (wealthy empty nesters) and big families in small houses (poorer families just starting off in a small apt) and redistribution those could help both parties.

Your are stating a subjective opinion. Your opinion is certainly valid, but it is not a fact.

The problem is that we are in a “bigger is better” mindset, and that empty nest family doesn’t want to give up their house even though they don’t need it.

Its not nearly as simple as “bigger is better” for that empty nest example. If it were, we’d see empty nesters (which are typically at the height of the lifetime wealth) automatically purchasing even larger houses when the kids leave into adulthood. That isn’t typically what happens. They keep the current home they had when they had children.

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