Squirrel

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning,

and her name Mother of Exiles.

Many wars in history were fought over stories

Brain scans are revealing what happens in our heads when we read a detailed description, an evocative metaphor or an emotional exchange between characters. Stories, this research is showing, stimulate the brain and even change how we act in life.

dds are, you’ve never heard the story of the wild pig and the seacow — but if you’d heard it, you’d be unlikely to forget it. The wild pig and seacow were best friends who enjoyed racing each other for sport. One day, however, the seacow hurt his legs and could run no more. So the wild pig carried him down to the sea, where they could race forever,... See more

storytelling may function as a mechanism to disseminate knowledge by broadcasting social norms to coordinate social behaviour and promote cooperation.

The type of knowledge in question is “meta-knowledge” – information about other people’s knowledge. This is, in fact, required for any society to function.

“In the past, jobs were about muscles. Now they’re about brains, but in the future, they’ll be about the heart.”