The Evolution of Storytelling
Instead of building a network from human-to-human chains alone—as the Neanderthals, for example, did—stories provided Homo sapiens with a new type of chain: human-to-story chains. In order to cooperate, Sapiens no longer had to know each other personally; they just had to know the same story.
Yuval Noah Harari • Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI
Just because the written word is currently the most dependable record of the stories our ancestors told doesn’t mean there aren’t other stories.
Elizabeth Lesser • Cassandra Speaks: When Women Are the Storytellers, the Human Story Changes
For most of our human history, storytelling was oral. Myths were spoken or sung by diverse storytellers who could select and modulate their narrative to best suit a given audience, emphasizing some aspects and ignoring others.
The Oral Tale
So, for the storyteller to connect with their audience, whether that’s one person on a date, or a thousand people at a rally, the story must be as familiar as possible. Even if the content is new or different, then the audience should at least recognise the shape. And I think this is why man in hole or hero’s journey has entertained for at least th
... See moreJames Wallman • Time and How to Spend It: The 7 Rules for Richer, Happier Days
Stories are the original scalable technology, allowing you to deeply touch endless numbers of people at once. Even if an employee never experienced what I described in a story, they were able to consider, What does this mean for me? and think about what they might do if they faced a similar circumstance.