Sure, when you phrase it like that…
Of course, our society likes to teach that ANY mind-alteration (outside of caffeine, which is also a drug AND can foster a mild physical dependence) is a Bad Thing. I disagree. It can be a bad thing, but is not inherently so.
This is not at all what I’m arguing, if there’s any misunderstanding about that. In fact, that stigma you mentioned is a big part of the problem.
It’s not socially acceptable to say “I’d like to consume a drug to alter my consciousness.” It is acceptable to say “I like wine because of the nuanced flavors and the rarity of the vintage and the fanciness of the bar.” People are lying to themselves telling them that it’s not a drug-seeking behavior. When their usage escalates and they suddenly start experiencing the dangerous consequences of drug use, they’re not alert to the problem because in their mind, they’re not drug users. They just really like rotten grapes that taste like oak and shoe leather.
If people understood right out of the gate that “this is a drug and it’s going to make me love it”, I feel like they’d be able to enjoy things more safely. Just because dopamine makes me enjoy beer, doesn’t mean the enjoyment is fake or wrong. You just need to be clear about exactly what’s going on. I wish I had, I miss beer.
Is it possible this point of view regarding flavor is based on a modern palette and that ancient people may have been accustomed to different flavor profiles?
also, today’s booze is stronger than what they knew up to the 1800s, and most classical and medieval beer and wines would be considered " wino swill" these days
My guess is that ethyl alcohol would be treated like diethyl ether: something not good for you that people abuse, that’s restricted but because of its legitimate uses not absolutely banned.
One other fun perspective on the “nope” side:
I once attended a presentation on prenatal drug exposure by Dr. Astrid Heger, a pedriatrician who led the charge for comprehensive medical exams of children referred to child protective services in LA County. She said that what the research has shown, as well as her own personal observations have led her to believe, is that prenatal exposure to illegal drugs is usually at least fixable through early intervention services. But fetal alcohol syndrome is devastating.
I would guess that you have never done coke. The “taste” may be the most appealing part of if.
So many of my patients (all convicted felons) have the classic facial features of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. It’s frightening.
I’d say that’s very unlikely; it seems much of modern people’s dietary choices and difficulties come from our still having that ancient palette that makes us crave those high-energy calories (fats, sugar, etc) that were harder to come by in the bad old days.
And, why would ancient people have been more drawn to the taste of poison than they are now? Alcohol was just as dangerous back then than it is today. It’s probably a good thing our ancestors weren’t drawn to eat huge amounts of rotting fruit and other putrid substances.
The thing is, it’s not just humans that consume alcohol in fermented food - elephants, horses, and parrots are three other species I know of that will happily consume foods/beverages containing beer/wine/cider levels of alcohol. I’d be surprised if our cousins the great apes don’t likewise indulge if given the opportunity. Probably others. If it’s an acquired taste it’s a very, very easily acquired one. Presumably, it can’t be all bad, even on initial taste, for a substantial portion of the animal kingdom.
Googling for an answer led me to the DRUNKEN MONKEY HYPOTHESIS, which posits that our tolerance to alcohol dates back to early humans’ consuming fruit that had naturally fermented. If true, it suggests a long-standing relationship between people and our “booze” that predates even civilization itself.
But again how do you account for people like Broomstick and myself. I have acquired a taste for wine and mixed drinks (still can’t stand beer) despite the fact that I have never been drunk in my life and have only had a buzz maybe 5-10 times in my life, all after I had acquired my taste, and none of which I found particularly pleasant (generally more of a “huh, this is weird” experience).
There are a large panoply of flavors that people find are initially unpleasant but over time out pallet grows to accept or crave. What is it about alcohol that prevents it from being one of those tastes?
Note that I’m not saying that you aren’t right in many (probably most) cases but making a blanket generalization about personal tastes is probably asking for trouble.
Getting drunk or buzzed isn’t a requirement to have the drug shape your habits. It’s still in your system, it’s still lighting up the nerve clusters that say “this was a good idea” even if you don’t consciously feel it.
You could say the exact same thing about sugar, fat, salt, and a lot of other things we consume on a regular basis. Or hot peppers. And so on.
Clearly, humans (along with other animals) are “wired” to consume substances that are not entirely healthy, or that in large amounts may have detrimental effects. Back when we were hunter-gatherers this probably didn’t matter - we didn’t have distillation, or production of large quantities of anything psycho-active. In the modern world when we can refine the active substances to extremely high levels of purity it can be a problem.
The extent that it will be a problem has multiple factors, from heredity to social cues to family habits/practices to probably a dozen other things.
