The goal is to maintain DOF and field of view; if you crop to the same field of view, and the entrance pupils are the same size, then you have the same DOF.
100mm at f/32 is the same as 50mm at f/8 only if you don't crop 50mm by 2x.
These are both excellent lenses, and at f/32 and f/16, optical quality basically ceases to matter.
A few quibbles:
1. The goal is to maintain the DOF distance. For 100mm at f/32, if you go to 50mm, you need f/8.
2. The assumption is that the lens is as sharp at 100mm as it is at 50mm (on some lenses this is a terrible assumption).
I tried a similar experiment comparing 25mm with 50mm (f/5.6 vs f/22). You can see the results at https://imgur.com/a/ik6qe5K
To me, they are almost identical - with 25mm seeming a tad bit sharper. In a way, though, you're right - the difference is so small that I might as well shoot at f/22.