You’ve figured it out. Alcohol is one of the oldest vetting techniques. All of nerdom is newer: What books you’ve read; what memes you know; what music you lik

You’ve figured it out. Alcohol is one of the oldest vetting techniques. All of nerdom is newer: What books you’ve read; what memes you know; what music you like; what sports team you’re a fan of; what city you’re from; what god you worship; what programming languages you know; your karma, so on and so forth ad nauseam. There’s an unpopular theory about the neolithic… that hunter gatherers discovering clay, made vessels to store grain, but didnt understand lids yet. The vessels filled with water when it rained and people being people drank the water and got drunk for the first time. The inhibitions lowered and those that were afraid of others found comradery subsequently organizing into larger groups. Drunk people being drunk, tend towards talk of religion and the world etc and these new groups built monuments over time to memorialize these places of reverence…. I heard this once as a possible explanation for gobekli tepe, the oldest strains of wheat are discovered a mere kilometer away in clay vessels with no lids. and while its fallen out of favor I cant help but think theres a nugget of truth to it. It would seem that for the old world at least, a coevolution for alcohol tolerance has been selected for. Contrasted with the devastating effects alcohol has had on new world populations that were not introduced to alcohol until first contact. How true its is is anyones guess… but I feel it explains a lot from what I’ve experienced