You can absolutely store "raw audio" in your brain today too - This is why You can sing along to a foreign language song quite easily without comprehending a single word.
In the "Confessions" (380 AD!), St Augustine expresses shock when he sees Ambrose reading silently in his mind. He goes on for several paragraphs inventing reasons why he's reading without speaking, and can't seem to comprehend that he is just reading in mind-space.
The view that Human agency is responsible for progress (and !agency = stagnation) is likely very correct.
Prometheus is thanked too much for stealing fire for humanity. We should be thanking Odysseus for stealing Agency.