Beer linked to to start of western civilization

gerhardk · March 2013

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/03/21/how-beer-fuelled-the-feasting-culture-that-led-to-civilization/

Gerhard

Little Steven · March 2013

Only Canucks would spend years on that research

eggteeth · March 2013

There was a documentary on The History channel called "How Beer saved The World". It, laid out arguments (semi-convincing) that beer was responsible for:

Modern cities and farming, as the Egyptians needed it to collect wheat, etc. to make beer.

Math. Egyptians paid pyramid workers in beer and needed a way to track it. Thus, the birth of math and accounting.

Re-fridgeration. Beer companies spent massive amounts on R&D to develop it instead of bringing in huge glaciers from canada by train.

Louie Pastour was actually studying why beer went bad when he stumbled onto pastuerization.

Ending child labor. Beer companies actually modernized the "ford assembly line" 10 years before Ford, virtually wiping out cruel but necessary use of children in their archaic glass blowing shops.

American revolution. Compared pubs to the internet today asused to distribute information/ideas. British agents were instructed to eavesdrop in pubs or to go sip, and thus the origin of the word gossip. The melody of the Star Spangled banner is identical to that of a drinking song pubs would make people sing to prove they were sober enough for another.

There were also some things about beer being safer to drink than water, and I think some link to penacillin. There were several more, but I can't remember all of them.

Fascinating stuff.