#74 Edward Slingerland - The Evolutionary Case for Getting Drunk, Alcohol and Neurochemistry, Socialisation, Archaeology, Philosophy

Edward Slingerland is a distinguished University Scholar and Professor of Philosophy at the University of British Columbia, whose research spans early Chinese thought, cognitive science, and evolutionary psychology. He is, among other works, the author of Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization. Our conversation starts by traging the origins of his thinking on alcohol to his earlier work on wu wei, the ancient Chinese concept of effortless action, and explore how downregulating the prefrontal cortex, whether through drinking, flow states, or long-distance running, unlocks the lateral thinking and spontaneity that the self-conscious mind tends to suppress. We get into the Ballmer Peak, the Google whisky room, and our own experiences of writing and creating under the influence, before turning to the central argument: that alcohol is not an evolutionary mistake but a genuine cultural technology, one that has been helping humans solve the problems of creativity and large-scale cooperation for at least 13,000 years. We dig into what the archaeological record reveals, from Gobekli Tepe to the Epic of Gilgamesh, making the case that the desire for intoxication may have preceded and even driven the development of agriculture and civilisation itself. We explore the hidden social intelligence embedded in drinking rituals, the way toasting customs, rounds at the pub, and the unspoken etiquette of sharing a bottle all serve to pace and regulate consumption within a group, before examining the two conditions that make alcohol most dangerous: distillation and isolation. We compare northern and southern European drinking cultures, look at what Italy's historically low alcoholism rates can teach us, and ask what cultures that abstain entirely reveal about alcohol's social role. Along the way we taste through two whiskies, discuss whether a pill that replicated alcohol's effects would ever replace the real thing, and hear Ed's thoughts on his next book, which turns his evolutionary lens on foraging, food, and our need to reconnect with the natural world.00:00:00 Introduction00:00:06 From Wu Wei to Whisky: How This Book Came About00:03:56 Flow State, Wu Wei and the Prefrontal Cortex00:10:45 Why Does a Poison Persist in Every Culture?00:11:07 Alcohol and Religion: Costly Behaviours, Hidden Benefits00:14:18 The Brain Hijack Theory and Why It Falls Short00:27:02 Humans as the Creative and Communal Animal00:29:20 Creativity, Lateral Thinking and the Maturing PFC00:33:05 The Ballmer Peak and Google's Whisky Room00:35:22 Writing Drunk: Personal Experiences with Alcohol and Creativity00:37:34 The Negroni That Wrote the Book Proposal00:52:59 The Pub as Social Infrastructure00:57:01 Whisky Tasting: Kilchoman00:58:30 Toasting Rituals and the Hidden Etiquette of Drinking Together01:01:28 The Twin Dangers: Distillation and Isolation01:05:15 Getting Drunk: The Bonding Functions Beyond 0.0801:09:35 Those Who Puke Together Stay Together01:10:07 Archaeology: The Beer Before Bread Hypothesis01:16:32 The Epic of Gilgamesh: Beer Makes You Human01:19:31 Hard Numbers vs the Intangible Benefits of Alcohol01:21:23 Northern vs Southern Drinking Cultures01:24:16 Italy as a Natural Experiment01:28:00 Cultures That Don't Drink: Islam and Mormonism01:29:34 Whisky Tasting: Highland Park 1401:49:00 Ed's Next Book: Foraging and Reconnecting with Nature01:51:24 Alcohol as Culture, Place and Technology01:53:19 Would We Still Drink if a Pill Could Replace It?📷 Follow me on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/tristanstephenson/📚 I've written quite a few books on spirits and cocktails - https://www.thecuriousbartender.com/