For the vast majority of human history, the only transmission of information between generations were oral stories. Modernity defines nations by their borders,

For the vast majority of human history, the only transmission of information between generations were oral stories. Modernity defines nations by their borders, medievality defined it by their feudal alliegances, but true antiquity defined it by their mythologies. I always wondered how much was lost in the long transition from the natural oral to the new written tradition. Do we humans learn things differently when hearing them than when reading them? After all, voice is multidimensional: pronounciation, tone, gestures are completely lost when conveyed into text. Why do people go to political rallies or speeches instead of just reading their contents? Why do children go to school instead of just reading books? History is full of lettered peoples being guided by oral traditions. Maybe there's a good reason why the Rabbis took 1500 years to write down the other half of the Torah.