Interestingly, the trend in 1940s SF was for humans to always be superior to aliens; John W. Campbell, the editor for Astounding, particularly liked this view. Asimov hated this trend, so that’s why the Foundation series has no aliens in it; as a result he could sell the stories to Campbell without having to write about the inferiority of aliens. It’s also why Asimov wrote a lot of three-law robot stories at this time, as he didn’t mind writing humans to be superior to robots.
The exact same thing has happened to me. I still have a beer every now and then (like once every two months or so). I pretty much can honestly say that if I drank any less, I wouldn’t drink at all.
I’ve never been that much of a drinker, but once I reached my forties, having a beer or two would invariably mean that I would need to take a nap a few hours later, and I just don’t need that interfering with my day. And I am cognizant of the recent studies have shown that there is no health benefits, only detriments, to any amount of alcohol at all. And add that I would pretty much always prefer the taste of a diet soda to a beer on almost any occasion, I’ve pretty much almost completely phased out alcohol in my life.
It helps a lot when most of your friends don’t drink much, either. That said, does any one else really care whether you drink or not?
I enjoy the series much more by just assuming that last book doesn’t exist and Arthur and Fenchurch get a happy ending. Er, I mean, what do you mean Fenchurch disappears into thin air?