Humans are a story-telling species. The stories we tell ourselves and each other guide how we live in and relate to the world. They are the social technology through which we make sense of the world and give meaning to our lived experiences. Like the mycelium that runs below our feet, stories are everywhere, threading and reshaping our reality, eve... See more

conducting a literature search of 89 different stories told by seven different forager cultures in Thailand, Malaysia, Africa and elsewhere. All of the tales carried lessons about social cooperation, empathy and justice, and many taught sexual equality

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.