My wife and I share quite a bunch of passions, but hardly any is as deep as our love for Lays’ crisps. We just emptied a bag, and we were both super satisfied. The reason we can thrive in the same household is ecology. There is a rule that under finite resources (a bag of crisps) one will outcompete the other, that is, if there is nothing put in place to solve this. I guess we developed a strategy. Somehow we found a way to empty the bag and both be happy.
We have two temporal phases in this process. First we both go through a devouring phase. This is a short phase where we both satisfy the strongest cravings. We stop this timely (I would outcompete her otherwise).
The second phase, it’s resource partitioning at its finest. My wife developed a preference for these very small bubbly and bent crisps. She goes through the whole bag looking for those. She probably finds six, but the time it takes her is enough to send a ‘full stomach signal’. Simultanuously, I continue the devouring strategy with no sense for quality, but aiming for sheer quantity, until they are all gone…
Co-existence!
Image credit: Evan-Amos (good old Wikimedia Commons)
————————————————————————————————————————–*This could be a series, who knows… I’m not promising anything.
Robin Heinen 