Ep. 61: Dr. Edward Slingerland, Author of Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization

2022-10-05

Last year, Dr. Edward Slingerland published Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization. As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to talk to him. I had so many questions! It took me a year, but I got him on - and it may be the best interview yet. Dr. Slingerland is a multifaceted researcher, drawing on experience with Warring States-era Ancient China, philosophy, sociology, evolutionary theories, archaeology, and scientific data to come to a breathtaking conclusion: human civilization could not have e...

Last year, Dr. Edward Slingerland published Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization. As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to talk to him. I had so many questions!

It took me a year, but I got him on - and it may be the best interview yet. Dr. Slingerland is a multifaceted researcher, drawing on experience with Warring States-era Ancient China, philosophy, sociology, evolutionary theories, archaeology, and scientific data to come to a breathtaking conclusion: human civilization could not have evolved without alcohol and intoxication.

That's obviously an oversimplification. Dr. Slingerland and I get into the theories behind his argument, the studies he references, and challenges to this work. After all, there's voluminous, even endless literature on alcohol's dangers (and Dr. Slingerland doesn't shy away from those, devoting an entire chapter to those dangers) - but very few have ever written of alcohol in a positive light.

This is, above all, a must-read for anyone truly interested in alcohol and intoxication. Like the best works do, it will make you think about life, where we come from, and how we achieved the civilizations we now take for granted.

And thinking feels best over a nice glass of whiskey.

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Before we jump into the interview just a few quick notes:

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Thanks for reading! Now here’s Dr. Edward Slingerland, author of Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization.

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