Beer Advances Civilization
Human beings are social animals. We live in groups – families, tribes, cities. For the very first humans, a million years ago, like for all animals that live in the wild, life revolved around finding food and water and protection from the elements of nature: cold, rain, and other carnivorous animals. Humans survived by learning skills to protect themselves and their families.
As children growing up in a family, we are taught by our parents and grandparents and brothers and sisters the rules of social behavior. We learn that stealing from others or hurting people is wrong. And if we continue such improper behavior when we become adults, we pay a penalty. Adults who break the rules of society are punished and sent away to prison. In this way, a society isolates and separates itself from people who don't follow the accepted rules of behavior.
Researchers who study social behavior cite five key elements that hold a society together. These five elements are similar to laws in that if they are violated, there is a serious penalty, such as being isolated from the family. However, these elements are different from laws in that they are not written, like laws written in the Constitution. Nevertheless, these five elements provide a strict code for social behavior. They are as important as laws, and we all follow them even if we don't realize it.
The five elements (or unwritten laws) of social behavior:
We must contribute to our family, thus whatever work is necessary to maintain the family should be shared.
Within any family there is a “pecking order” or power structure. A boy must do what his father says because the father has greater power within the family than the boy.
We rely on other family members to help us. We need help with small jobs; other times, when we're sick, we need others to care for us. Therefore, we are dependent on the other members of the family.
Since we are dependent on others, such as our mothers to feed us when we are infants, we must learn how not to offend family members.
If we do not follow the rules, the family can isolate us or impose another penalty. If we offend others or refuse to help with work, why should the family take care of us?
When everyone in a family or tribe or city follows these five rules, life continues peacefully. As a result, it's possible for a tribe of Indians living in the Amazon jungle to continue their existence along the same patterns of behavior and social order without changing. These tribes have been hunting animals and gathering berries and nuts for food in the same way for thousands of years. A boy learns the best way to kill an animal from his father, who learned from his father. Learning these skills are what enable the tribe to eat and survive.
What is not present in these Amazon tribes is the desire or need or ability to change. The group reaches a position of equilibrium with its environment, where there is enough food and water to survive, and they remain stable and stationary. Animal species behave in the same way. The basic instinct for unchanged stability is known as “biological stasis.”
If animal species and primitive humans seek stasis, then how and why did modern civilization occur? How do humans change? This is a fundamental and as yet unanswered question that scholars have pondered for centuries. Clearly some groups, like native Indians, have not changed, but they are the exception. Cultures change and evolve, which is why life today in Curitiba is different from life in the Amazon jungle.
One theory about human change is that there is a basic difference between humans and other animals -- that difference being our curiosity and desire. In another theory, change is seen as a form of adaptation. People change because they have no choice, their survival requires it. This was the great contribution made by Darwin and other early experts in human evolution in the 18th century. Darwin was the first to recognize that the animal species that survived throughout history were the ones that adapted best to change.
Change and progress also occur because humans are creative. We can use our imaginations to solve problems, then adapt our solutions to solve other problems, or solve the same problems in a better way. People have learned to explore, invent, and experiment. We have developed artistic expression and romance. These human desires have allowed cultures to change and evolve.
One thing we know for certain is that change is not easy. It comes gradually, and some changes are good while others are not. Yet, the advancement of civilization is based on the principle of progress and change. Without invention and creativity and change, there would be no wheel, no telephone, no computer.
It is still unknown what makes humans change, what leads individuals or groups to invent new things and experiment. We do know that change is outside the norm; it is easier and safer to follow the guidelines set by our parents. It is safer to follow the rules than to break the rules. The question then is: What would stimulate people to act in ways that are not normal? What creates a different pattern of behavior?
Recently, some researchers at Simon Fraser University in Canada have developed a new theory on human change. Their findings are not what anyone expected – beer!
Professor Brian Hayden and his colleagues in Canada believe they have proof that beer was being consumed by ancient cultures as long as 10,000 years ago. They believe that even before grain was being used to make bread, it was being stored to make beer. Hayden has published his theory in the Journal of Archeological Method and Theory.
His theory suggests that beer parties were essential in the development of early human societies because alcohol frees people. Drinking supresses the rigid social codes that all families follow. People need an excuse that allows them to escape their inhibitions, to act in ways that are not normal. With the use of beer or wine, people who are usually shy or afraid to express their ideas are now free. Beer allows people to break the rules temporarily, to act differently, to celebrate even in times of hardship. Beer breaks down traditional communication barriers within the internal power structure of a tribe. Additionally, when people drink, they are more caring and affectionate towards others.
Some evidence suggests that these early beers (or wines) were also considered aids in deliberation. In long ago Germany and Persia, collective decisions of state were made after a few warm beers, then double-checked when everyone was sober. Elsewhere, they did it the other way around. Beer was thought to be so important in many ancient civilizations that the Code of Urukagina, often cited as the first legal code, prescribed beer as a central unit of payment and penance.
It should be noted the reason beer and wine were popular long ago is specifically because of their low alcohol content. As far as the research has shown, distillation of alcohol to higher concentrations began only about 2,000 years ago. It must also be recognized that while drinking may have provided a valuable element to the development and progress of a civilization, no society can function if everyone is drinking all the time. The morning after a party, the group must return to its routines of hunting and gathering food and caring for itself. Beer is not food. Without sober family members and hard work, society falls apart.
We have all witnessed the tragedy of people who drink so much they cannot live without it and become alcoholics. They lose their families when they are no longer able to follow the codes of social behavior, such as helping others or not offending people. And we certainly don't need anyone to warn us about the dangers of drinking and driving a car.
Therefore, while it's not suggested that everyone drink beer all day, every day, it does appear that limited and responsible use of beer and wine may have played an important role in the development of civilization. Or as the American statesman Ben Franklin supposedly said, “Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”
