I do notice drinking is increasingly viewed as vice. Good life today is all about eating vegetables, hitting gym, and mastering meditation. It's all about detox life.
Edward Slingerland makes you realize that trend is the result of over individualized productivity-driven western culture. We have very little intellectual argument that shows the importance of social life. That's most visible in the lockdown. We care about the health. We don't care about the social life. That priority is set.
Drinking he proposes is cultural technology to gain creativity. That's how apes come to trust each other. That's especially true of men (I imagine it has something to do with male territorial and hierarchical nature). That's the notion academics never teach. That reminded me of the recent controversy of the recent news: Google is spending $2.1 billion on Manhattan office while the rest of us are going crazy about remote office. Only the well-socialized successful people see the value of socialization. And alcohol plays a central role in facilitating that organization.
Edward really nailed on the topic selection. Drunk was a phenomenon read that filled my void in the modern culture.