Drunk

Why do humans, across eras and geographies, keep getting drunk—despite the chaos it can wreak?

1. The Persistent Human Fascination with Alcohol

Humans have been intoxicating themselves for thousands of years, across cultures and ages. Despite alcohol’s negative consequences, such as accidents, aggression, and illness, our obsession persists. This behavioral puzzle has puzzled scientists for decades. Do the pleasures outweigh the costs?

One common scientific explanation frames drinking as an evolutionary hiccup. It either hijacks the brain’s reward system, providing pleasure where no survival benefit exists, or it’s a hangover from evolutionary behavior that once benefited us but no longer does. However, neither theory entirely adds up when we consider the consistent, widespread consumption of alcohol throughout history.

Edward Slingerland proposes a different interpretation. Drinking isn’t a random, purposeless behavior—it’s something deeper. Alcohol offers benefits that offset its downsides, helping humans not only survive but thrive as a species rooted in culture, creativity, and connection.

Examples

• Humans historically valued alcohol consumption enough to invest resources into making it.
• Despite knowledge of its dangers, people continue to celebrate it socially.
• Scientific models of "hijack" and "hangover" fail to fully account for its persistence.

2. Alcohol Is Not Simply an Evolutionary Accident

The "hijack" theory suggests alcohol tricks the brain’s reward system by offering pleasure without genuine survival value. Yet if that were true, evolution would have eliminated it since drinking can be direly harmful. Similarly, the "drunken monkey" hangover theory—that ethanol helped early humans find calorie-rich overripe fruit—doesn't explain why humans later brewed alcohol intentionally.

Slingerland challenges these ideas. If drinking were solely about evolutionary malfunction, its risks should have outweighed cultural adoption. Instead, alcohol seems to be a deliberate and integral part of human life, tied to the unique demands of our species’ survival.

This perspective pushes us to rethink prior assumptions. If intoxication has survived numerous generations of natural selection, its benefits to human well-being and development must outweigh its obvious costs.

Examples

• Evolution adapted humans to consume milk in only a few generations, yet alcohol persists despite health risks.
• Primates generally avoid overripe, ethanol-filled fruit.
• Ancient societies developed extensive rituals for brewing and consuming alcohol, indicating deliberate use.

3. Culture and Cooperation: Humanity’s Ecological Niche

The defining feature of humans’ survival isn’t strength or speed—it's culture. Our ecological niche depends on inventions, cooperation, and accumulated knowledge, all of which allow us to overcome challenges together. Early humans transitioned from hunter-gatherers to agricultural societies largely by learning how to collaborate with strangers.

Alcohol may have played a role in facilitating this. As communities grew, individuals needed ways to trust, bond, and build connections without being constantly overwhelmed by suspicion. Evolution favored tools that encouraged emotional openness, social solidarity, and communal creativity—setting humans apart from other species as highly collaborative problem-solvers.

By nudging us past our innate selfishness, alcohol helped foster social behaviors that supported agriculture, community-building, and collective survival.

Examples

• Fire transformed humans’ physiology, making us dependent on cooking—a parallel example of humanity’s niche.
• Intoxicants have historically been central to gatherings in cultures worldwide.
• Ancient arts and traditions, from religious rituals to feasts, emerged in tandem with alcohol consumption.

4. Alcohol Suppresses the Prefrontal Cortex, Unlocking Community Bonds

The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is our brain’s rational control center, managing impulse moderation, abstract reasoning, and long-term decision-making. While essential, its dominance can also make humans overly cautious, selfish, and distrusting—traits that can block collaboration and bonding.

Alcohol temporarily takes the PFC offline, granting access to a more emotional and spontaneous side. This shift fosters trust, as people become less calculating and more willing to connect authentically with others. In ancient societies, intoxicants served as a kind of truth serum, ensuring sincerity in group interactions and making collaboration easier.

When harnessed responsibly, drinking can transform guarded individuals into cohesive social units. Indeed, the Latin saying "In vino veritas" captures this idea: with wine comes truth.

Examples

• Fijian village councils only deliberate once everyone is intoxicated on kava to ensure honesty.
• Alcohol-laden feasts helped ancient leaders establish alliances.
• Studies show drinking often reduces perceived emotional barriers between individuals in groups.

5. Creativity and Intoxicants: Accessing Our Inner Child

Human creativity depends on open-mindedness and risk-taking, qualities that are abundant in young children. Because their PFCs are undeveloped, children excel in imagination and out-of-the-box thinking but struggle with focus and discipline. In adults, the mature PFC suppresses this spontaneous, playful spirit—but alcohol can recreate a child-like cognitive state in adults.

When the PFC is relaxed, people lose inhibitions and process fear less intensely, fostering creativity. Alcohol inspires playful, divergent thinking that enables cultural innovation. While tools like transcranial magnets can similarly suppress the PFC, alcohol offers a readily available—and more fun—alternative.

Creativity thrived historically under the influence of alcohol, allowing art, stories, and innovations to flourish. Temporarily disrupting rigid thinking helps produce breakthroughs essential to human culture.

Examples

• The brainstorming method of divergent-first, evaluative-second mimics "drunk" brainstorming.
• Ancient ceremonies fused creativity and intoxication, giving birth to storytelling and art.
• Modern psychology experiments show alcohol-fueled participants often excel at creative problem-solving.

6. The Role of Alcohol in Transitioning to Agriculture

Alcohol’s role in early civilization goes beyond entertainment. Some evidence suggests alcohol may have spurred the agricultural revolution itself. Archaeological findings propose that humans’ desire to brew beer encouraged experiments with planting grains—possibly predating agriculture for food purposes.

This flips long-held narratives about the origin of farming. If beer-making motivated settlement, intoxication is as foundational to human society as bread or tools. Social drinking relieved the stresses of communal life and helped sustain early agricultural communities.

This theory reinforces the idea that alcohol isn’t incidental to human history. It shows drinking as a driver of some of humanity’s most transformative moments.

Examples

• Sites in Jordan show evidence of beer brewing 14,000 years ago, before agricultural staples.
• Beer-fueled Neolithic gatherings encouraged cooperation and forged bonds.
• Ritual feasts in early societies included intoxicants, strengthening social cohesion.

7. Alcohol and Social Bonding Across Cultures

The communal nature of alcohol drives its staying power as a human ritual. In every corner of the world, dances, feasts, and celebrations have featured some form of intoxicant. Alcohol weakens individualistic defenses and helps groups foster emotional intimacy and solidarity.

Ancient and medieval societies used alcohol to facilitate diplomacy and ensure fair deliberation among leaders. Traditions like toasting, shared drinking vessels, and ceremonial brews underscore the importance of drinking as a collective, trust-building activity—a legacy that continues today.

Through shared vulnerability and laughter, alcohol helps bridge divides, creating group cohesion that fuels societal growth.

Examples

• Medieval European feasts used wine as a lube for diplomatic talks.
• Japanese ceremonial drinking rituals strengthen personal and professional ties.
• Polynesian kava roots, like many intoxicants, have a centuries-long history of enabling social cooperation.

8. Why Some Cultures Handle Alcohol Better

Cultural context shapes how societies consume alcohol. In Mediterranean nations like Spain and Italy, drinking is normalized, integrated into meals, and discouraged in excess. Public consumption replaces private bingeing, creating a healthier relationship with alcohol.

By contrast, Northern European countries often associate drinking with solitude, heavy bingeing, and spirits, making overconsumption more common—and more destructive socially. Social and geographical factors, like suburban sprawl in the U.S., further isolate drinkers, contributing to alcoholism.

These cultural distinctions reveal that the harm alcohol causes isn’t uniformly distributed. Drinking’s effects are mediated by how and why a society chooses to imbibe.

Examples

• Italian meals with wine limit bingeing and normalize drinking.
• Binge drinking in Finland contrasts sharply with Spain’s slow-drinking culture.
• The individualism of American suburbs often encourages private, unhealthy drinking.

9. The Future of Mindful Intoxication

Understanding alcohol’s double-edged nature allows us to rethink how we use it today. Historically, it served both creativity and community, but modern issues like addiction complicate its role. Researchers now explore alternatives like microdosing psychedelics, which may achieve similar effects without the damage.

As society reexamines intoxication, the takeaway shouldn’t be prohibition but mindful use. By recognizing both its benefits and dangers, alcohol can remain a societal tool, wielded responsibly.

The legacy of intoxication reminds us that balance is key: alcohol can enable culture and connection, but only within limits.

Examples

• Psychedelics show promise in replicating alcohol’s effects without its drawbacks.
• Holiday parties can limit heavy drinking while fostering fun.
• Family cultures that model responsible drinking reduce young peoples’ alcohol abuse risks.

Takeaways

1. Recognize the deep-seated cultural role of alcohol and approach it purposefully—as a tool for bonding or creativity rather than escape.
2. Promote moderate, social drinking practices that align with Mediterranean cultures to discourage bingeing over solitary consumption.
3. Explore and support alternative methods of accessing creativity or trust in situations where alcohol’s downsides outweigh its benefits.