The Story of Stories—The Million Year History of Storytelling
Summary
"Language did not give us stories; stories gave us language." Kevin Ashton coined the phrase "the Internet of Things" and led the development of the Internet of Things at MIT. His latest book THE STORY OF STORIES explores the intrinsic human nature of storytelling; delves into how stories are deeply embedded in our lives; and traces the evolution of storytelling from night fires to digital screens, social media, AI, and beyond. Kevin will read from the book, discuss its big ideas, take questions, and, after the talk, sign books at the SXSW bookstore.
- Format: Presentation
- Category: Presentation
- Event Type: panel
- Presented By: n/a
Contributors
- Kevin Ashton
Raw Event JSON
Large nested arrays are compacted for page readability. Full payload remains in dataset files.
Open JSON payload
{
"id": "PP1162649",
"track": "Culture",
"focus_area": null,
"category": "Presentation",
"event_id": "PP1162649",
"event_type": "panel",
"format": "Presentation",
"genre": null,
"subgenre": null,
"name": "The Story of Stories—The Million Year History of Storytelling",
"presented_by": null,
"publish_at": "2025-12-10T15:45:00.000-06:00",
"reservable": true,
"reservable_id": "PP1162649",
"reserved": false,
"date": "2026-03-12",
"end_time": "2026-03-12T15:30:00.000-05:00",
"start_time": "2026-03-12T14:30:00.000-05:00",
"message": null,
"image": {
"alt_text": "The Story of Stories—The Million Year History of Storytelling",
"credit": null,
"url": "https://images.sxsw.com/IkpV2dGPkTl8iddtHyd6ukCSxfs=/950x633/images.sxsw.com/187/a9515627-4b9f-7c86-7c2f-3ce85819375c/pp1162649"
},
"credentials": [
{
"name": "Platinum Badge",
"type": "platinum"
},
{
"name": "Innovation Badge",
"type": "innovation"
}
],
"contributors": [
{
"id": 79692,
"company": "Harper Collins",
"credential_types": [
"filmtv",
"innovation",
"music"
],
"entity_id": 2240883,
"name": "Kevin Ashton",
"speaker_types": [
"Speaker"
],
"title": "Author",
"image": {
"alt_text": "Kevin Ashton",
"credit": "Rodolfo Baldwin",
"url": "https://images.sxsw.com/dVFJKU0f3hM_1frJYd8WQgjYskk=/600x600/images.sxsw.com/48/b7391a43-a8e3-bb04-27db-1c430cd094ce/pcid-691067"
},
"speaker_type": "Speaker",
"details": "Kevin Ashton is a visionary technologist, author, and entrepreneur, best known for coining the term \"Internet of Things\" (IoT) while leading pioneering work on sensor networks at Procter & Gamble and co-founding the Auto-ID Center at MIT. Ashton has led three successful tech startups, including Zensi, which he sold to Belkin in 2010, and created the WeMo home automation system. He has written for The New York Times, The Atlantic, Politico, and The Daily Telegraph. His first book, How to Fly a Horse: The Secret History of Creation, Invention, and Discovery, won the 2015 Porchlight Business Book of the Year award. His second book, The Story of Stories—The Million-Year History of a Uniquely Human Art, will be published on March 3, 2026.",
"links": {},
"type": "person"
}
],
"venue": {
"accessible": false,
"age_policy": null,
"floor": "4",
"id": "V0376",
"indoor_outdoor": "INDOOR",
"mixhalo_url": "https://translate.mixhalo.rocks/?venue_id=429&partner=true",
"name": "Salon D",
"parent_id": "V0365",
"parent_venue_name": "Hilton Austin Downtown",
"venue_entry_info": null,
"formats": null,
"location": {
"address": "500 E 4th St.",
"lat_lon": [
30.2651364,
-97.7381904
],
"city": "Austin",
"postal_code": "78701",
"state": "TX",
"name": "Hilton Austin Downtown"
},
"root": {
"id": "V0365",
"name": "Hilton Austin Downtown",
"mixhalo_url": null
},
"events": "[omitted 5 venue events]"
},
"description": "\"Language did not give us stories; stories gave us language.\" Kevin Ashton coined the phrase \"the Internet of Things\" and led the development of the Internet of Things at MIT. His latest book THE STORY OF STORIES explores the intrinsic human nature of storytelling; delves into how stories are deeply embedded in our lives; and traces the evolution of storytelling from night fires to digital screens, social media, AI, and beyond. Kevin will read from the book, discuss its big ideas, take questions, and, after the talk, sign books at the SXSW bookstore.",
"experience_level": "Intermediate",
"audio_url": null,
"accessibility": [
"Closed captioned"
],
"accessible_venue": false,
"add_bcl_url": false,
"add_slido": false,
"after_midnight": null,
"age_policy": null,
"american_sign_language": false,
"apple_url": null,
"audio_description": false,
"caption_url": null,
"captioned_qa": false,
"closed_captioned": true,
"cpe_credit": false,
"event_status": "none",
"has_subtitles": false,
"hash_tags": [],
"high_sensory_experience": false,
"live": false,
"long_description": "\"Language did not give us stories; stories gave us language.\" Kevin Ashton coined the phrase \"the Internet of Things\" and led the development of the Internet of Things at MIT. His latest book THE STORY OF STORIES explores the intrinsic human nature of storytelling; delves into how stories are deeply embedded in our lives; and traces the evolution of storytelling from night fires to digital screens, social media, AI, and beyond. Kevin will read from the book, discuss its big ideas, take questions, and, after the talk, sign books at the SXSW bookstore.",
"meeting_url": null,
"meeting_url_live": false,
"mentorly_url": null,
"mobile_audio_url": null,
"open_captioned": false,
"playlist_tag": null,
"rebroadcast": false,
"recommended_ids": [],
"search_conversions": null,
"short_program": false,
"slido_url": null,
"sort": "STORY OF STORIES?THE MILLION YEAR HISTORY OF STORYTELLING",
"source": "Official",
"squad_up_url": null,
"stream_embed": null,
"stream_id": null,
"stream_url": null,
"strobe_warning": false,
"subdiscipline": null,
"summit": null,
"summit_display_name": null,
"tags": [
{
"id": 2554,
"name": "Crossover Day",
"created_at": "2025-12-01T17:30:45.217-06:00",
"updated_at": "2025-12-01T17:30:45.217-06:00",
"sort": "CROSSOVER DAY",
"alpha": "C"
},
{
"id": 950,
"name": "Storytelling",
"created_at": "2016-11-04T11:43:51.305-05:00",
"updated_at": "2024-02-05T16:58:21.488-06:00",
"sort": "STORYTELLING",
"alpha": "S"
}
],
"talent_attending": null,
"title_only": false,
"track_display_name": "Culture",
"trailer_id": null,
"trailer_url": null,
"video_on_demand": null,
"vimeo_id": null,
"vod": false,
"xr_project_type": null,
"youtube_id": null,
"related_events": [],
"related_sales_client": null
}