Vortrag Cheers to civilization! Alcohol and its role in the evolution of complex societies, von Dr. Václav Hrncír, Max- Planck-Institut für evolutionäre Anthropologie, Leipzig

Public lecture:

People's attitude towards alcohol is highly ambivalent. On the one hand, it is the most widely consumed psychoactive substance in the world. On the other, excessive drinking has many negative health and social consequences, making some governments and religions to regulate or even prohibit alcohol. In this lecture, we will explore the origins of alcoholic beverages and their role in human evolution. Is our desire to get drunk an evolutionary mistake, or does it serve a positive adaptive function? And could drinking together have really led to the emergence of the first civilizations, as some researchers claim, or is that just drunken nonsense?