the question of why the genes predisposing one to alcoholism have remained in the human gene pool. One possibility is that, prior to the advent of distillation and unregulated private drinking, the dangers of alcoholism were outweighed by the individual and social benefits of a taste for alcohol, but that this calculus has since changed. In a world awash with powerful distilled spirits, and where drinking increasingly takes place in the privacy of one’s own home, alcohol may indeed be more dangerous than helpful. It is quite possible that distilled liquor is such a novel threat that genetic
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