QotD: Alcohol and Human Evolution

[liveonearth]

"The search for unpolluted drinking water is as old as civilization itself. As soon as there were mass human settlements, waterborne diseases like dysentery became a crucial population bottleneck. For much of human history, the solution to this chronic public-health issue was not purifying the water supply. The solution was to drink alcohol. In

Comments

Beer and evolution

[bobby1933]

Fascinating!

Regarding American Indians: This may account for the inability of First People to tolerate alcohol, it certainly does not account. except in an indirect and small way, for the the miserable conditions under which they live or for the age and rate at which they die.

Re: Beer and evolution

[liveonearth]

No doubt the North American tribes got a bad deal, not the least of which is the wretched lands they got in exchange for giving up their customary hunting and fishing ranges.... and the imposition of a corrupt foreign culture happening simultaneously with the disruption of their native ways

Re: Beer and evolution

[bobby1933]

There is cultural evolution, but there is also culture shock.

Europe hit North America like a sudden unseasonable ice age and about 90 percent of the population could not survive it. There is the material life which can and must change; then there is the soul that either remains constant or dies. American Indians are trying to hold on to their souls in an increasingly soul sucking environment. I wish them good luck.

Re: Beer and evolution

[madman101]

soul food, yum

[anais_pf]

I read that book last summer and LOVED it. Really fascinating in several different ways.

[liveonearth]

Yeah, I found it a fruitful read from a bunch of angles. Glad you liked it too~!