Jacob, I shall not insult your intelligence by trying to explain why I felt insulted, it is, as you know, purely a subjective feeling, one I chose to feel.
Laura, I post in Serendip both for pleasure and for learning. If somebody benefits from my writing, I can call it a value added. Polemic is out of the question, except when it is conducted on a platform appropriate for mutual benefit. You might have noticed that some of my posts are tinged with humor and some are poetry, although related to Serendip's main raison d'etre (brain, mind,thinkingand meta-thinking).
...Stephen Hawking realized that...(Do you) know...(of)...any other physicists who have been on the best-selling lists...?
I'd suggest reading my letter to Charles Krauthammer, posted as "Time and Space."
...As to your alcohol theory..., if the liver is damaged so that it cannot process ethanol as quickly as a healthy liver...,those brain things...(neurons)...have more alcohol to deal with ...if so, is it possible for them to be overwhelmed to such a degree that impairment of the body's reactions are compromised?...An individual imbibing...a weight/height equivalent amount of alcohol and..a healthy liver..could be 'legally' drunk and still...in command of his reflexes...
There are two variables involved: the alcohol blood level and the neurons' capacity of 'destroying' (catabolizing) alcohol. The net result of alcohol intoxication therefore depends on their interplay. The constant is the amount of alcohol imbibed per weight of the individuals. Variable degrees of liver damage will result in variable blood concentrations, thus variably taxing different individuals' neurons having equal detoxyfying capacities. With inequal capacities, the result will be in favor of the better endowed.
Is there any way for medical science to ascertain this, possibly clearing persons of DWI's whose reflexes are not...(necessarily)... impaired...(correlatively) with...their alcohol...levels?
This is precisely what I advocate in my post! It is possible to develop methods for that end, applicable to surviving drivers.
...Is it possible that the driver of Di's vehicle, in spite of having drunk a considerable amount of alcohol,...was...'in control of his reflexes' to the same degree of a...sober person?
On the basis of existing knowledge, it will be found that a few individuals possess a genetic enzyme variant in their neurons, which provides them with up to ten times the regular capacity for destroying alcohol. This will explain their unusual immunity to alcohol effects. Perhaps Alexander the Great was a famous case in question.
And do we really want to complicate the issue of drunk driving by this information?
Science manifests an inherent 'perverse desire' for complicating life, parallel to the inherent 'badness' that allows evolution.
Therefore, feelings -being subjective-- are of interest only as a matter for educated analysis. I shall limit myself to question your presumed ability of 'choosing' subjective feelings. As for "insulting the intelligence," it is just a cliche.