Em Defesa da Esbórnia

Artigo no The Spectator sobre o livro de Edward Slingerland, Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization. We have not outgrown the need to get hammered in each other’s company, Slingerland argues. The function of intoxication is to disable a human being’s dominating and sophisticated ‘pre-frontal cortex’ in a temporary, controlled and pleasurable way. When inebriated, the bonds of social commitment are strengthened. People become more childlike, creative, trusting and emotionally open. Alcohol is the ‘cultural technology’ that enables ‘humans to escape the limits imposed by our ape nature and create social insect-like levels of cooperation’.