Prior to the invention of digital electronic computers, humans had a long history of using information technologies. Even before the invention of writing, humans were inventing soft technologies for string information outside of a single human brain. Pre-literate cultures used communal storytelling, myths, and poems are all inventions used in cultures to share and store information before writing was invented. Without such technologies, human communication makes use of speech and hearing, and is an ephemeral event: an utterance takes only a moment and is lost unless it is heard by another.