Drunk: Why We Drink and How It Civilized Us | Edward Slingerland
The Lindsey Elmore Show
Lindsey Elmore
5.0 • 529 Ratings
🗓️ 22 November 2022
⏱️ 51 minutes
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | While plenty of entertaining books have been written about the history of alcohol and other intoxicants, |
| 0:06.0 | none have offered a comprehensive, convincing answer to the basic question of why humans want to get high in the first place. |
| 0:14.8 | My guest today is Edward Slingerland, and he is the author of Drunk, How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way into |
| 0:23.2 | Civilization. Drunk elegantly cuts through the tangle of urban legends and anecdotal impressions |
| 0:29.2 | that surround our notions of intoxication to provide the first rigorous, scientifically |
| 0:35.0 | grounded explanation for our love of alcohol. Drawing on evidence from |
| 0:41.1 | archaeology, history, cognitive neuroscience, psychopharmacology, social psychology, literature, |
| 0:47.7 | and genetics, Slingerland shows that our taste for chemical intoxicants is not an evolutionary mistake, as we are so often told. |
| 0:57.6 | In fact, intoxication helps solve a number of distinctly human challenges, enhancing creativity, |
| 1:06.0 | alleviating stress, building trust, and pulling off the miracle of getting fiercely tribal primates to |
| 1:13.8 | cooperate with strangers. Our desire to get drunk, along with the individual and social benefits |
| 1:20.7 | provided by drunkenness, play a crucial role in sparking the rise of the first large-scale societies. We would not have civilization |
| 1:31.9 | without intoxication. From marauding Vikings and bacchanalian orgies to sex-starved fruit flies, |
| 1:38.9 | blind cavefish, and problem-solving crows, drunk is packed with fascinating case studies and engaging science, |
| 1:47.1 | as well as practical takeaways for individuals and communities. |
| 1:51.5 | The result is a captivating and long-overdue investigation into humanity's oldest indulgence. |
| 1:59.2 | One, that explains not only why we want to get drunk, but also |
| 2:04.5 | how it might actually be good for us to tie one on now and then. This is The Lindsay Elmore Show. |
| 2:12.0 | Welcome to The Lindsay Elmore Show, a podcast for people who deserve to be healthy with honest, open, |
| 2:19.7 | and enlightening conversations with doctors, thought leaders, creatives, and spiritual gurus, |
| 2:25.5 | you'll walk away with simple and tangible tips and tricks that allow you to live your healthiest |
| 2:33.1 | life so you can pursue your dreams, overcome obstacles, |
... |
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