Caffeine (and other stimulants) have been traded by many civilizations over many millennia in different areas of the world, and have not always given rise to te

Caffeine (and other stimulants) have been traded by many civilizations over many millennia in different areas of the world, and have not always given rise to technological progress. In addition, progress in the methods of creating alcohol have often been a side-effect of growing civilizations, not a cause for them. The article makes an argument that here we humans were, dumb and boring, and suddenly we decided to create a means to produce certain products, and then we created trade routes for these products, and then suddenly this caused civilization to flourish, as if the presence of civilization was not necessary for these things to happen to begin with. It's like saying "the horseless carriage developed America", as if America didn't exist before it was created, to say nothing of paved roads. Clickbaity clickbait.