How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization (2021)

The Next Big Idea

Next Big Idea Club

Education, Social Sciences, Science, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 28 December 2023

⏱️ 73 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Do we have alcohol to thank for civilization? The answer, according to Edward Slingerland’s new book, “Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization,” is a resounding yes. Edward, who’s a professor at the University of British Columbia and self-proclaimed “philosophical hedonist,” says that far from being an evolutionary fluke, our taste for alcohol is an evolutionary advantage — one that we’ve relied on for millennia to help us lead more social, creative, and pleasurable lives. (This episode first aired in July 2021.)

Transcript

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0:00.0	LinkedIn presents.
0:05.8	I hope you're enjoying the holidays, folks.
0:08.2	It's been a great year of conversation.
0:10.9	Thank you
0:13.0	for listening and for being part of our community of curious people.
0:15.0	We at the Next Big Idea Club
0:17.0	would like to raise a glass to each and every one of you.
0:21.0	What is in this glass I'm raising you may be wondering? Well in my case it's a
0:25.4	whiskey sour with a little bit of egg white, my favorite cocktail this time of year.
0:30.0	I'm drinking less than I used to. I've learned from our recent conversations with
0:35.1	Peter Attia, Tim Specter, and Russell Foster about the impact of alcohol on
0:40.0	health and sleep quality in particular. The story of the human relationship with
0:45.4	alcohol however is a long one and it is fascinating. We're sharing today in
0:51.4	the spirit of the holidays one of our favorite episodes
0:55.0	a conversation with Edward Slingerland about his book Drunk
0:58.6	How We Sipped, Dance, and Stumbled Our way to civilization.
1:03.0	I'm Rufus Griskam and this is the next big idea.
1:08.0	Today, do we have alcohol to thank for civilization? Most of us have had the experience of scrolling through Instagram and seeing a photo of a great party and
1:33.8	feeling a momentary pang of FOMO the fear of missing out.
1:38.0	But recently I experienced something unusual.
1:41.0	FOMO for a party that happened 11,000 years ago. It was a gathering, perhaps one of the
1:47.2	first of hundreds of hunter-gatherers in southeastern Turkey having a multi-day rager.
	...

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