Yeah, that was an interesting comment. I understand where they're coming from, but humans have been ingesting things - even beyond alcohol - to modify their reality for a very, very, very long time. I don't think there's anything intrinsically wrong with asking why it is that we have continued to do this, collectively, as a species, but I hesitate to suggest that it implies that there is "something wrong with humanity".

Maybe it's the fact that we all realize our mortality, and the benefit that it has on a species. Nature has built into us a few limiters to over-flourishing, like it has for many other species: a short life-span with expendable body components - we've overcome that with medicine and other life-extending tech. A disinterest in procreation - we're trending in that direction but the procreators are probably gonna win that battle. Limited resources - science is finding ways to exploit new resources while diminishing the quality of life for all.

I'm a drinker and proud of the contributions I still make to society, but also that I won't hang on for too long past my invitation to stay on this rock. There are people better than me who should occupy it.

They also sacrificed humans to their gods. The tenure of a bad habit is not an argument in favour of the habit. I recall ancient romans used lead to enhance the taste of wine, if that practice had persisted nobody today would advocate for it give what we now know (and they suspected) about the effects of lead.

And while we know that ancient civilisations drank alcohol, we don’t know how widespread or frequent it was, was it just an elite? Was it a very occasional ceremony (as some indigenous tribes still do, using psychoactive substances as part of group rituals once or twice per year)?

> They also sacrificed humans to their gods. The tenure of a bad habit is not an argument in favour of the habit.

But how certain are you that most of the problems that we struggle with today aren't a result of insufficient ritual sacrifice? Maybe we need to heed the lesson taught to us by the movie Cabin in the Woods.

Alcohol habits have varied immensely across times and cultures, both in terms of consumption and in beliefs about the effect of alcohol. There's plenty of room to change, even if you only think what has happened before is possible.

yes: https://ourworldindata.org/alcohol-consumption

If you ever find yourself in a scenario where clean water isn’t available. Beer might be one of the few things you can drink that won’t kill you.

> Beer might be one of the few things you can drink that won’t kill you

... Because the process of making beer consists of boiling the wort!

But if you can boil water to make beer, you can just, well, boil water to drink.

People have known since antiquity how to make water potable.

You can keep beer waaay longer usable than you can keep boiled water fresh.

I suppose that having a small amount of silver or even just copper touching the water can seriously prolong its shelf life, so to say.

Also, putting sterilized water into airtight sterilized containers, as normally done with beer, works well. Carry a can of Liquid Death with you instead of a can of Bud, the weight is the same.

Why would that be? Alcohol can spoil too.

What is stale water?

Alcohol has a diuretic effect. It makes the kidneys produce urine. Without access to actual clean water, it seems to me that drinking alcohol will just dehydrate the person even faster.

Humanity has been doing a lot of things for most part of these 8000 years, from casual genocide at wars to not washing hands before a meal. Much of it has changed in recent couple of centuries, with pretty obvious positive effects.

Maybe humanity is not that hopeless.

Humans have done a lot of things for thousands of years that modern sensibilities now find unsavory. Slavery, human sacrifice, purchasing a bride, and to a lesser extent religion in general.

Wasn’t it the Europeans who brought alcohol to the New World?

Isn't 8000 years ago about the time the Bible says that humanity began to sin?

According to the literal reading of the old testament, humanity did not even exist by then, and the world itself did not exist. There can't be a bad habit as old as 8000 years.

I think you mean "literalistic". When the plain words are plainly meant to be understood in a non-literal way, then to interpret them literally is in fact not to interpret them "literally". I use the word "literalistic" for the kind of moronic reasoning that assumes that if one of King David's psalms says that God will shelter you under his wings, then that means that God must have wings. Or when the author of The Song of Songs writes "Your eyes are the pools of Heshbon by the gate of Bath Rabbim" then that means that this woman's eyes are actually the pools of Heshbon by the gate of Bath Rabbim.

So if you're going to be a moron, then you can claim that the Bible teaches that the world was created in six days 6,000 years ago, with the light from distant stars already in transit.

Ever study human history? Something is definitely wrong with humanity.

This is it. It would almost drive ye to drink.

"Alcohol - the cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems."

Reminds me of the Whiskey Speech: https://academyatthelakes.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Noa...

*only if you're a dumbass who thinks illegal drugs are all bad.