signalnoise

Do you ever wonder how alcohol has effected history? I'm thinking like those books that tell the history of salt or the number zero.

But, really, I would be less interested in the story of fermentation, wars over grapes, or liquor taxes than the actual influence of the substance we know as alcohol on historical figures. I mean, there was a time not so long ago (colonial America, for certain) when it was considered safer to drink beer than water {and the assumption was probably correct in many cases). The Greeks drank a lot, so did folks in medieval Europe. Did that effect their judgements, their choices? Are parts of The Republic so mental because Plato was buzzing all the time? Or maybe people back then had more tolerance, since they drank so much?

For some reason, the idea of major historical/cultural figures walking around toasted all the time and doing important things .... is amusing, as well as interesting. Maybe a bit scary. This is not profound, I know. But it's *Thursday,* I'm hungry, and ya know, ya take what you can get.