i argue that alcohol is an engine of group creativity as well. To certain creative tasks we do better after a drink or two, or three, maybe even. And we also are more likely to share ideas, right? And be less a judgmental of ideas. You know, the other thing alcohol does is increase risk, risk taking, which is bad if you're operating a motor veies. If you're trying to come up with a new grand idea, it's actually probably a good thing. So risk taking is important in intellectual domains and then that's why it its useful.
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.