Robert Evans

• Robert Evans is editorial manager of the humor site Cracked and author of the book "A Brief History of Vice: How Bad Behavior Built Civilization." Here's a slice of his take on human civilization as expressed in an interview with National Public Radio.

"Alcohol is a big part of the reason that we are here in the first place," Evans said, sharing what is called the Drunken Monkey hypothesis.

The hypothesis says that about 10 million years before homo sapiens appeared on the scene early primate ancestors learned to eat fruit that had begun fermenting. When fruit reaches that point, it's in its most caloric-dense state and has the greatest benefit for the animal eating it.

"It's not just alcohol that was sort of responsible for the rise of agriculture, it was the desire to throw really good parties."

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