Tequila wrote:
cyberdad wrote:
Peer/social pressure + Media + impressionable age = susceptibility to consuming something that is addictive and unnecessary
Not necessarily. I drink alcohol because I like it. Simple as.
Lots of things are 'unnecessary' but we do them because we like them, because they're enjoyable and fun. What a drab, grey, authoritarian blancmange life would be if we didn't have many diversions and frivolities to pass the time.

QFT
Quote:
Light to moderate drinkers live longer than non drinkers
I've never read much into it, but I suspect that the correlation may not be implying causation. Perhaps people who don't drink are statistically more likely to be the sort of people who are highly stressed, or depressed, or some other mechanism like that.
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The scientist only imposes two things, namely truth and sincerity, imposes them upon himself and upon other scientists - Erwin Schrodinger
Member of the WP Strident Atheists