I think you've hit a nerve here! Turns out people do love their 'ways of life'. It's also interesting that with a PhD in biomedical engineering, this is the c

I think you've hit a nerve here! Turns out people do love their 'ways of life'. It's also interesting that with a PhD in biomedical engineering, this is the conversation people choose to have. As for what alcohol can give you that you don't already know about... It is the 'joy of being a dickhead' the 'wild abandon' or the 'abasement of self' in a communal ritual of shared identity. Some might go so far as to say that the 'revels of dionysus' or 'the bacchanalian' form an intrisic part of civilised identity where that which is proper is upended. Drinking together makes us human and civilised - for the very reason that drinking is choosing to leave civilisation behind. Is there a line then, into this baccanalian, that can be crossed - where the party turns to the wretched vomit, the fool, the car-crash? Yes - there is this line, and how many of your detractors have crossed it - more than once?