The Story of Stories

What do the campfire, printing press, motion picture, and smartphone have in common? They're all storytelling technologies. Each one gave us a new medium through which to transmit tales, reshaping how we think, what we believe, and who holds power. And we may be on the brink of the most disruptive one yet. In his new book, The Story of Stories, Kevin Ashton traces the million-year arc from fireside gossip to the screen in your pocket. Now, with AI-generated imagery and displays approaching the resolution of the human eye, we're heading somewhere new: a world where we may not be able to tell the difference between a story and reality. Watch The Next Big Idea on YouTube! You can find our episodes ⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠. Follow Rufus on ⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠,

You can listen to The Story of Stories online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

The Story of Stories is an episode from The Next Big Idea by Next Big Idea Club.

This episode is 56:04 long.

This episode was published on Mar 16, 2026.

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