Yes, obviously weight also plays a big role in my previous statement. But the statement is still true: given that over half the population doesn't drink daily, if they decide to drink 10 drinks, it will have drastic physical effects. For what it's worth, the modern day description of "tolerance" is merely the individual's ability to mask their inebriation. There is a big difference of not being affected by something (being tolerant) and fooling others that you are unaffected.
Again, the modern view on alcohol tolerance is that people develop masking abilities. Their BAC and physiological effects remain relatively constant from [1]:
> Functional tolerance refers to a phenomenon where a person can ingest significant amounts of alcohol – either at once or slowly over time – and not appear to be intoxicated. A person who has developed a functional tolerance to alcohol may be under the influence of alcohol without it being noticeable, thus allowing them to participate in certain daily activities in a manner that appears normal to others.
This is also what TIPS, the training given to bartenders, teaches [2]. Finally, to the point about spreading out the drinks. Yes, this is how people consume large amounts of alcohol daily. I maintain that someone who barely drinks or never drinks will be incapable of doing their job after 4 hours, even after spreading out the drinks. They certainly shouldn't drive a vehicle.
This link is only for "High-Functioning Alcoholism" which is not the same as the entire spectrum of Alcoholism, your link even mentions this in the first sentence.
> When someone is colloquially termed a “high-functioning alcoholic”, they may be able to carry out daily tasks of living [trimmed] without exhibiting the full range of clinical impairments commonly associated with alcohol use disorders.
The sources listed in the article further breakdown different types of tolerances and their effects. For example source 5,
> Tolerance means that after continued drinking, consumption of a constant amount of alcohol produces a lesser effect or increasing amounts of alcohol are necessary to produce the same effect (1). Despite this uncomplicated definition, scientists distinguish between several types of tolerance that are produced by different mechanisms.
They then list the details of "Functional Tolerance", "Acute tolerance", "Environment-dependent tolerance", "Learned tolerance", "Environment-independent tolerance", "Metabolic Tolerance".
To imply that Functional Tolerance is synonymous with all forms of alcohol tolerance is incorrect, and it's incorrect to say that's "the" modern view on alcohol tolerance.
Source [6] is a book called "Understanding Why Addicts Are Not All Alike
Recognizing the Types and How Their Differences Affect Intervention and Treatment" which should tell you that generalizing all alcoholics into a single type is probably not the most correctly accepted modern view on alcoholism.
Sure, the volume isn't unfathomable. But most people drinking a Mickey (13 ounces ~ 9 drinks) would render them useless.