Zero Proof
The New Economy of Drinking
The year is 2040, and the very concept of a bar has been quietly rewritten. It is a Friday night, and a family of six moves through a glowing entrance that once belonged exclusively to adults. The doorway holds none of the old rituals of restriction. No identification is required, because the drinks being served exist outside the framework of alcohol law entirely. The boundaries that once divided nightlife have simply faded away, dissolved by cultural evolution rather than disruption. Intoxication is no longer the governing contract of social life. What remains is something purer: a space defined by connection, ritual, and experience, finally untethered from consequence. In other words, intoxication is no longer the default contract of social life.