The franticness of coffee culture #coffeechain:
Ever wondered why, out of all the plants in the world, a select few play such a dominant and outsized role in our culture? The best example I can think of is coffee.
Harvard professor Michael Pollan, in his 2020 book, goes as far as saying that not only is coffee a phenomenon of our culture, but that it is responsible for creating it.
It’s an extraordinary hypothesis but one which just might be true. Anyone who drinks coffee for the first time after a while will notice all the good and ill of our society arise in the microcosm of his psyche. Productivity and concentration are amplified, but so are neuroticism and aggression.
In fact, anyone who has tried to abstain from caffeine for an extended period of time, will find that continuing to “function” at the frantic pace of our society is a non-trivial task.
So in a way, if we want to reduce our addiction to coffee, we may have to change our culture to accommodate those who are trying to live at a slower pace.