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Comment by listless | Hacker News Reader

No, but it certainly helps. Alcohol makes me a better listener. A better father. A better husband. A better friend. Less selfish. Less judgmental. More caring and more generous.

I drink cautiously because I know the health risks. I limit myself and most of the time do not drink at all. But I would be lying if I said alcohol doesn’t make me a better person.

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Do what you want of course, but that better version of you already exists without the booze, and you don't need to give alcohol credit for it. And because it already exists, it is very much possible to learn to let out that seemingly better version of yourself without a drug. Not saying you "should" or whatever, just wanted to convey that it's an option, that's all.

> Alcohol makes me a better listener. A better father. A better husband. A better friend. Less selfish. Less judgmental. More caring and more generous.

Not biochemically, it doesn't. It slows your reaction time. It doesn't make you do or think anything you otherwise wouldn't, you just get there a little slower.

For all I know, you still become all those great things when you drink, but you might as well said it about taking a smoke. It might be just as true then. It's not the substance doing it.

Whatever bro, I trust your self judgement. But statistically, I would bet that alcohol makes worse parents, worse listeners, worse friends. And quite often it makes outright terrible parents.

Most people drink most people aren't horrible parents. You are working at the extremes.

And yeah some extremes are bad.

Alcohol dulls your mind at best. If you enjoy using your brain, it's a net negative even with small amounts.

I can definitely sympathize with alcohol improving me in some situations. When I'm at social gatherings sober I'm in my head a lot, overthinking. A couple of drinks in though and I'm not using my analytical brain, I'm using the part that is good at improv, and I have much better conversations because of it, and usually comes away from those events more positive than sober.

Everything good that ever happened in my life was achieved by being analytical. Including eventually getting married.

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