The Case for Drinking Alcohol
Conversations with Coleman
The Free Press
4.8 • 2K Ratings
🗓️ 27 April 2026
⏱️ 71 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to another episode of Conversations with Coleman. My guest today is Edward Slingerland. |
| 0:07.1 | Edward is a professor of philosophy at the University of British Columbia, and he's also a leading |
| 0:12.0 | scholar of early Chinese thought. Edward wrote a book called Drunk, How We Sipped, Danced, and |
| 0:18.5 | stumbled our way to civilization. This book represents something that |
| 0:22.1 | you probably never seen from a serious academic, a defense of drinking alcohol. That's right. |
| 0:28.1 | Edward is a fan of alcohol, and he thinks it played an important role in the development of |
| 0:32.8 | human civilization. In this episode, we talk about how alcohol was discovered, what role it played in early |
| 0:39.5 | civilizations, why alcohol has gotten stronger over the years, and why young people today are |
| 0:45.5 | drinking less. Along the way, we also talk about Edward's other area of expertise, Chinese history. |
| 0:52.5 | So without further ado, Edward Slingerland. |
| 1:02.9 | One thing I care about a lot is craftsmanship. What it means to actually care about how |
| 1:07.4 | something is made and whether that ethics still has a place in a world that |
| 1:10.9 | mostly optimizes for cheap and fast. Today's sponsor is a pretty compelling answer to that question. |
| 1:17.1 | Veer, that's V-A-E-R, was founded in Los Angeles with a mission to revive American watchmaking, |
| 1:23.4 | and they've actually done it. They're now the largest independent watch assembler in the U.S., |
| 1:28.0 | building watches across California, Arizona, Rhode Island, and Alabama. Even their leather |
| 1:33.1 | straps are made domestically in Illinois and Florida. These are serious, well-built watches, |
| 1:38.8 | top-grade materials, over 10,000 five-star reviews. The weight, the feel on your wrist, the materials, |
| 1:44.6 | it all signals that someone actually thought about this. |
| 1:47.6 | And everyone comes with a waterproof warranty |
| 1:49.5 | so you can swim or dive without thinking twice. |
| 1:52.4 | If you're tired of disposable products |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Free Press, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Free Press and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.

