Has Alcohol Left Humanity Better or Worse Off?
Welcome to Up for Debate. Each week, Conor Friedersdorf rounds up timely conversations and solicits reader responses to one thought-provoking question. Later, he publishes some thoughtful replies. Sign up for the newsletter here.
Last week, I asked readers, “Are humans better or worse off for having beer, wine, and spirits? Or, if you'd prefer introspection, how about you personally?” Several of you pointed out that humanity benefited greatly from alcohol in bygone eras when there was a dearth of clean water. But today we’ll focus on the modern era.
Replies have been edited for length and clarity.
Dave shared his family background and its effect on his attitudes:
On one side of my family, alcohol was generally forbidden and never touched during family gatherings. On the other, it was central to every family event. If you asked me which side is more fun, I’d say the drinking side. Maybe as drinkers, we flock to others like ourselves and learn to block out forces that we identify as threats to our drinking high. Over time and following a few family deaths, we migrated away from vacationing to the nondrinking side of the family, and candidly, I can’t remember the last time I saw any of those relatives.
Alcohol can leave a dark shadow, especially when it deteriorates someone’s health like it
