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Comment by obstacle1 | Hacker News Reader

The entire point of this thread is that even small doses of alcohol -- doses well within what we consider to be moderate drinking -- have fairly extreme negative effects on memory. This is a problem even for the 80% of drinkers who do not develop alcohol addiction.

As we start to actually study the effects of alcohol, it really looks like it is a hard drug with no net positive effects at anything over a minuscule dose.

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I mean, it’s gotten me laid a bunch, and also has had me make new friends. Also a promotion (probably)

Taking that further, it has also probably had a considerable effect on population numbers. Alcohol probably adds to the birth rate.

I'm not sure how well that hypothesis would hold up in a quick comparison of alcohol consumption per capita vs birth rate.

Space aliens looking at those numbers might even mistake alcohol for a mild contraceptive.

Possibly at the high end of consumption, also possibly, your parents had a glass of wine or a dash of alcohol just before your conception.

A prevailing theory is that humans started engaging in agriculture, which was less efficient than hunting and gathering in the start, because of the desire to consume alcohol. It is difficult to argue that agriculture has not had a dramatic effect on population numbers.

"net positive effect" is subjective. Drinking is fun and eases social interactions; I personally value that more than whatever downsides there might be to memory formation.

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