Venture capitalist Marc Andreesen has been writing about his decision to “pause alcohol” six months ago. Both the first On Pausing Alcohol post and the next day’s followup are worth reading, but the latter is far more interesting. If you’re a High Spirits reader, nothing in Andreesen’s first post will be news to you.
Followup On Pausing Alcohol comprises merely a list of questions Andreesen received regarding his original post and his answers to them. The audience questions he responds to are familiar based on what we hear from our customers at Spirited Away, so I wanted to provide my take on a few of them as well.
Why did I stop drinking?
Marc: 1/3 watching the collapse of ~all the scientific studies[*] that claimed to prove health benefits of alcohol; 1/3 the wonderful/terrible Andrew Huberman podcast; 1/3 I got tired of dragging during the day, and discovered through experimentation that even a single drink the night before was interfering with the next day.
Douglas: My choice to reduce booze was and is 95% driven by how much better I feel. Since I’ve made that decision, evidence in support of it continues to accumulate, which is convenient, but I’d probably keep abstaining just based on personal experience even if the studies didn’t bolster that decision. Now I just feel even better about it.
Was it hard to stop?
Marc: No, not at all. I’m apparently missing the genetic predisposition to addiction to at least alcohol. My friends would say I am addicted to other things, but those seem to be mostly productive obsessions. Obviously many other people have a different experience when they try to stop drinking.
Douglas: I’m in the same boat here: I feel no addiction to booze. I’ve worried in the past about how to talk about that given how many people are affected by alcohol’s addictive properties. Maybe it’s as simple as being honest about my personal experience while also acknowledging that many people have very different experiences.
I’m not immune to addiction; sugar in particular I find hard to eliminate.
Why not drink a little on weekends?
Marc: At least for me, it’s easier to either have a habit or not have it, than try to straddle.
Douglas: I flip this question right back around: “Why drink on the weekends either?”
In my experience, moderation is a gateway drug to abstinence. If I feel great during the week due to pausing alcohol, why would I want those good feelings to stop on the weekend?
What replaces the ritual of drinking?
Marc: I have found green tea to actually work very well. Also, complaining.
Douglas: I like green tea when I’m by myself but I find that there’s something about drinking the same kind of thing together as a group that’s enjoyable. Let’s all have a glass of red wine together (make mine de-alcoholized, but we’re all having wine.) If it’s a summer rooftop party with a cooler full of beers, I want to grab a cold Athletic, not to sip a hot cup of tea. Everyone should drink whatever they want to, but part of what I love about the ~800 drinks on Dry Atlas is how seamlessly they segue into our existing social gatherings and rituals.
Isn’t alcohol fundamental to human history?
Marc: Absolutely. Many books have been written about the role alcohol played throughout the development of civilization. For a long time, alcohol was how you got water that was safe to drink. Also for a long time, distilled alcohol was the most effective way to transport and sell grain crops — George Washington grew and sold rye this way. And alcohol has been key to cultural formation and social bonding for many centuries, as you see in the history of the Greeks and Romans. But none of that means it’s good for ME. And the transition from alcohol to caffeine during the 1600s and 1700s in Europe seems to have catalyzed the Enlightenment, so.
Douglas: “But none of that means it’s good for ME.” Exactly.
Would 20th century America have turned out differently had cannabis been legal this whole time and alcohol banned?
Marc: Yes, I think so. Less violent, for sure. As dynamic, probably not. Better or worse? I have no idea. A timely question as our own culture seems to be shifting from alcohol to pot right now.
Douglas: Personally I’m not a huge fan of cannabis but it’s almost certainly less societally harmful than alcohol. Of course both alcohol and cannabis should be legal, but if I could swap those two legalities and replay the 20th century, I would.
Somewhat relatedly, it’s also interesting to think about hallucinogens like psilocybin, LSD and DMT, which may be the least societally harmful of all despite being the most illegal. They are also increasingly being studied for everything from overcoming addiction to relieving depression and anxiety to communicating with alien beings.
Is there a brewing fad of not drinking in Silicon Valley?
Marc: Yes, for sure. However, it seems to be running parallel to much more use of cannabis and hallucinogens, at least on the West Coast. So it’s not exactly asceticism.
Douglas: Yes but this is not just a coastal movement. Everywhere in the world there are mindful, freethinking individuals choosing what’s best for them instead of following the status quo. From Nolita, Manhattan to Norris, Tennessee, our community is making thoughtful choices and demanding better options.
What’s the best counterargument to all this?
Marc: That life is not lived to be safe, that alcohol helps people bond, mate, and reproduce, that alcohol encourages people to fight and fighting drives civilization forward. That men and women should work hard and then play hard, the Greeks had their Dionysia and the Romans their Bacchanalia, and we should too. Frankly, over the long sweep of human affairs, this is probably right, but I’m still not drinking for a while.
Douglas: I don’t disagree with any of those and I think “What’s the counterargument?” is a question well worth asking. Socializing is critical to the human experience and if the adult non-alc / “sober curious” movement results in any less socializing, or in forging less meaningful social connections, we’ve failed. I think and hope what we’re doing is creating healthier, more meaningful social bonds but only time will tell. This movement is still very young.
Footnote
Marc: [*] It really is striking/shocking how completely this whole area of scientific research has collapsed. This is part of the generalized replication crisis that’s ripping through science. More to come on this. TLDR, is it is no longer crazy or even particularly controversial to say that most of what we know as science is simply fake.
Douglas: Mic drop
