History Happy Hour

What better topic for our hoist-a-glass history show than the role of intoxication in the rise of civilization? Turns out getting hammered, tanked, wasted, plastered have played a major role in getting where we are today. Drinks in hand, host Historians Chris Anderson and Rick Beyer welcome Edward Slingerland, author of Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization. Find out how evidence from archaeology, history, neuroscience, and genetics, suggests our taste for chemical intoxicants isn’t a flaw – it has helped solve a number of distinctively human challenges. The historical impact of humanity’s appetite for getting juiced up.

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Edward Slingerland is a Canadian-American philosopher and sinologist. He is Distinguished University Scholar and Professor of Philosophy at the University of British Columbia, where he also holds appointments in the Departments of Psychology and Asian Studies. He is the author of numerous books, including TRYING NOT TO TRY

Ancient China, Modern Science, and the Power of Spontaneity.