Drink All of the Beers with No Hangover?

Apparently science is finally catching up with alcohol consumption. British scientist David Nutt is currently seeking investment for a synthetic beer made with a substance that he claims can mimic the effect of alcohol without the hangover. Probably not a good idea. Graeme Archer, writing in The Telegraph, draws a parallel between hangover-free beer and “soma,” the seemingly consequence-free drug (“All the advantages of Christianity and alcohol; none of their defects.”) in Aldous Huxley‘s Brave New World. Problem is, “soma” made getting high so pleasant that everyone was permanently high. While that might sound momentarily delightful, most of us know how it ends (hint: not well). If the idea of subbing in some new “substance” for alcohol isn’t dubious enough, he argues that removing the hangover cancels our “appointment with reality.” Maybe we are better off, he says, “being too drunk to drive in the morning” every now and again, so we rethink that third bottle of wine the next time around. [The Telegraph]