• [ network ]
  • goatmatrix.net
  • gvid.tv
  • img.gvid.tv
  • games.gvid.tv
  • apps.gvid.tv
HomeUploadUpload DirectHotlinkRandomAbouttheme toggle
Expand

Why We Drink

Views:1122
@ReasonVids

Alcohol facilitates human cooperation and creativity on a grand scale, says Edward Slingerland, a philosophy professor at the University of British Columbia.

https://reason.com/video/2022/06/30/the-case-for-drinking/
-------------------
"We've been looking at alcohol consumption through this very distorted lens," says Edward Slingerland, author of Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization. "We've only been looking at it as a kind of addictive pleasure substance. We haven't been seeing any of the positive social benefits."

While not minimizing the dangers of overuse, Slingerland lays out a case that alcohol is a cultural technology that motivated humans to create and maintain civilization. 

"Alcohol helps us to be more creative. It helps us to be more communal. It helps us to cooperate on a large scale. It helps to make it easier for us to kind of rub shoulders with each other in large-scale societies that we live in. So it solved a bunch of adaptive problems that we uniquely face as a species because of this weird lifestyle we have."

Alcohol's effect on the brain's prefrontal cortex (PFC), Slingerland argues, allows us to be more receptive and creative. 

"One of the functions of alcohol is to reach in and basically turn down our prefrontal cortex a few notches, temporarily taking us back to being like a four-year-old in terms of our cognitive flexibility but with all the knowledge and the goals and the affordances of being an adult. And it's temporary," says Slingerland. 

"A few hours later, we're back to being adults again. So depressing the PFC increases…allows parts of our brain to talk in ways that normally they don't." 

Suppressing the prefrontal cortex also makes it more difficult to lie.

"In every culture I know, whenever you get potentially hostile strangers or people with potentially competing interests who have to come to an agreement and figure something out, alcohol's involved. And in places that don't have alcohol, they use some other substance that has exactly the same function. The same way we shake hands when we need to show we're not carrying a weapon, if I sit down and drink a few beers with you, I'm basically taking my PFC out and putting it on the table and saying, 'you know, I'm cognitively disarmed.'" 

"We have to learn to trust, even though it's not rational to trust," he says. "And alcohol's a tool for helping us to do that, not only by disarming our ability to lie and deceive other people, but it's also boosting serotonin and endorphins. It's making us feel good about each other. It's bonding us."

Produced and edited by Meredith Bragg. Motion graphics by Bragg and Lex Villena.

libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
    Thumbnail for How the Conservative Supreme Court Is Changing America1:55:02
    How the Conservative Supreme Court Is Changing America
    ReasonVids
    867 views
    Thumbnail for Sex, Spice, and Small-Town Texas Justice: The Purple Zone Raid10:54
    Sex, Spice, and Small-Town Texas Justice: The Purple Zone Raid
    ReasonVids
    1006 views
    Thumbnail for Millions Impacted by This... | Mr. Weatherman12:37
    Millions Impacted by This... | Mr. Weatherman
    invidious
    90 views
    Thumbnail for Why Jeff Bezos' All-Girl Space Launch was a DISASTER | Ryan Long6:30
    Why Jeff Bezos' All-Girl Space Launch was a DISASTER | Ryan Long
    Invidious2
    53 views
    Thumbnail for [Live] 28 พ.ย. 2567 | Double Espresso by Krungsri The COACH ให้คุณอัปเดตสถานการณ์การลงทุนโลกและไทย | KrungsriSimple2:05:25
    [Live] 28 พ.ย. 2567 | Double Espresso by Krungsri The COACH ให้คุณอัปเดตสถานการณ์การลงทุนโลกและไทย | KrungsriSimple
    invidious
    158 views
    Thumbnail for Vidaamuyarchi Teaser - English Version | Ajith Kumar | Trisha | Magizh Thirumeni | Subaskaran | Lyca1:49
    Vidaamuyarchi Teaser - English Version | Ajith Kumar | Trisha | Magizh Thirumeni | Subaskaran | Lyca
    invidious
    155 views
    Thumbnail for Jeffrey Tucker on Liberty.me and How the Internet Undermines the Nation-State6:03
    Jeffrey Tucker on Liberty.me and How the Internet Undermines the Nation-State
    ReasonVids
    1004 views
    Thumbnail for Bill Simon: The Candidates Professor7:52
    Bill Simon: The Candidates Professor
    ReasonVids
    905 views
    Thumbnail for #CANLI | İrfan Değirmenci ile Halk Ana Haber | #HalkTV | Halktv1:49:35
    #CANLI | İrfan Değirmenci ile Halk Ana Haber | #HalkTV | Halktv
    invidious
    336 views
    Thumbnail for Ron Paul Delegates Vow Floor Fight at RNC3:04
    Ron Paul Delegates Vow Floor Fight at RNC
    ReasonVids
    983 views
    Thumbnail for DEA Agent Joins Marijuana Industry10:08
    DEA Agent Joins Marijuana Industry
    ReasonVids
    1039 views
    Thumbnail for Dilbert Creator Scott Adams on Donald Trump's "Linguistic Kill Shots"8:00
    Dilbert Creator Scott Adams on Donald Trump's "Linguistic Kill Shots"
    ReasonVids
    1153 views
    Thumbnail for Alien Isolation Walkthrough Gameplay Part 14 - Running Scared (PS4) | theRadBrad23:34
    Alien Isolation Walkthrough Gameplay Part 14 - Running Scared (PS4) | theRadBrad
    invidious
    385 views
    Thumbnail for That's what happens when you are on your own3:21
    That's what happens when you are on your own
    EricaPolarBear.Archive
    338 views
    Thumbnail for Raga Finance:經濟佬看世界: 經濟佬看 AI 時代,還要經濟學嗎? - 主持:羅家聰 KC 博士、阿Vin、馮智政 | RagaFinance財經台59:28
    Raga Finance:經濟佬看世界: 經濟佬看 AI 時代,還要經濟學嗎? - 主持:羅家聰 KC 博士、阿Vin、馮智政 | RagaFinance財經台
    invidious
    173 views
    Thumbnail for The Politics of Poker: Why It's Time To Legalize Online Gaming4:59
    The Politics of Poker: Why It's Time To Legalize Online Gaming
    ReasonVids
    1076 views
    Thumbnail for Crowded Prisons, Unions, and CA Three Strikes: Why We Can't Just Build More Cages6:09
    Crowded Prisons, Unions, and CA Three Strikes: Why We Can't Just Build More Cages
    ReasonVids
    873 views
    Thumbnail for The War on Fast Food: Can a D.C. Suburb Fight Fat with Zoning?2:30
    The War on Fast Food: Can a D.C. Suburb Fight Fat with Zoning?
    ReasonVids
    965 views
    Thumbnail for 3 Reasons the US MILITARY Should NOT Fight Ebola2:08
    3 Reasons the US MILITARY Should NOT Fight Ebola
    ReasonVids
    1055 views
    Thumbnail for Marion Barry Doubles Down on "Dirty Asians"1:39
    Marion Barry Doubles Down on "Dirty Asians"
    ReasonVids
    766 views
    Thumbnail for Hopes and Fears for the Obama Administration3:45
    Hopes and Fears for the Obama Administration
    ReasonVids
    998 views
    Thumbnail for In Order to Live: Yeonmi Park's North Korean Defector Story29:19
    In Order to Live: Yeonmi Park's North Korean Defector Story
    ReasonVids
    1148 views
    Thumbnail for Whole Foods’ John Mackey on Amazon Merger: ‘A Meeting of the Souls.’15:28
    Whole Foods’ John Mackey on Amazon Merger: ‘A Meeting of the Souls.’
    ReasonVids
    1016 views
    Thumbnail for The son of Hamas founder: “If Israel fails in Gaza, all of us in the West will be next”... I mean what could go wrong... we are already invaded by them ... bring back domestic terrorism3:32
    The son of Hamas founder: “If Israel fails in Gaza, all of us in the West will be next”... I mean what could go wrong... we are already invaded by them ... bring back domestic terrorism
    bestofupgoat
    481 views
    Thumbnail for Flat earthers: "Because the earth is flat, a 24h sun in Antarctica is not possible." Dave McKeegan: "Hold my beer."1:40
    Flat earthers: "Because the earth is flat, a 24h sun in Antarctica is not possible." Dave McKeegan: "Hold my beer."
    bestofupgoat
    64 views

points

Permalink
Reply
libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
TOS  •  Add Keywords  •  Donate  •   Analytics  •   DMCA  •   Puzzle