Re: Why smart people drink more... and stay up later too (News, May 20)
Martin Smith aptly describes the validity of most medical studies by saying, “It’s a very clever idea, and in my mind, it’s at least partly true.”
Your article describes his idea that intelligent people handle alcohol better as a theory. Yes, intelligence helps figure things out, but many intelligent people are devious, even criminal – which isn’t “smart” (the word in your headline).
On the other hand, many people who might rate relatively low in intelligence are good people who have learned to manage their life.
As for staying up late, booze culture practitioners in the Greater Victoria area don’t seem “smart” to me, and the receptivity of partying students to Smith’s theory is convenient opinion, not evidence.
I also note that the field of psychology is an immature one, with a myriad of themes depending on flavours of belief systems such as religion, Marxism, and objectivism.
So as intriguing as it is, I place Martin Smith’s theory in the huge bag of notions that are not likely to get well-researched.
Keith Sketchley
Saanich