What did the DRUNKARDS ever do for us?
Apart from building civilisation by boosting creativity, beating stress and helping us to trust strangers
RAISE a glass to alcohol... boozing is essential to human civilisation, it is claimed.
Prof Edward Slingerland says having one too many builds trust between strangers, eases stress and aids problem-solving.
He reckons it helped form modern societies, and that it is no accident that we have had a fondness for a tipple since ancient times.
The US-based professor said it “explains not only why we want to get drunk, but also how it might actually be good for us to tie one on now and then”.
He added: “Our desire for alcohol is not an evolutionary mistake. There are good reasons for why we get drunk.” Prof Slingerland outlines his theory in a new book,
‘Give pleasure for pleasure’s sake its due’
“Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, And Stumbled Our Way To Civilisation”. It looks at our long relationship with booze and concludes it is more than just a vice.
It says: “In fact, intoxication helps solve a number of distinctively human challenges: enhancing creativity, alleviating stress, building trust, and pulling off the miracle of getting fiercely tribal primates to co-operate with strangers.”
And it adds: “We would not have civilisation without intoxication.”
The professor draws on evidence from academia to show booze is a fundamental part of life, and calls on health experts to accept alcohol is a key element of our existence.
He has “a holistic defence of alcohol and intoxication, one that gives pleasure for pleasure’s sake its due”.
But Prof Slingerland does warn drinkers to stick to beer and wine, with their lower alcohol levels, rather than distilled spirits.
A 21% surge in deaths from liver disease has been linked to Brits hitting the bottle amid the pandemic.