# Free Will and Emotion May Become Folk Concepts That No Longer Map Reality by David Berreby > “For hundreds of years the pattern in science has been to overturn folk concepts, and it seems to me the brain may be the next field for such a conceptual revolution. It may be that in a hundred years people will speak of free will, or the unconscious, or emotion, in the way that we now speak of "sunrise" or "forever" — words that serve for day-to-day talk, but don't map reality. We know the sun doesn't rise because it is the earth that moves and we know that humanity and its planet and the universe itself won't last forever. I see signs that concepts of the mind are due for the same sort of revision. And so that's the question I keep returning to.” > **— David Berreby**, *2002, Edge Annual Question, “WHAT IS YOUR QUESTION? ... WHY?”* ## Sources and Context - **Direct Edge response and surrounding essay:** [Do folk concepts of the mind have anything to do with what really happens in the brain?](https://www.edge.org/response-detail/10630) — Edge published this exact, continuous passage in its 2002 Annual Question collection, *WHAT IS YOUR QUESTION? ... WHY?*. The response page preserves the surrounding argument and qualifications. - **Complete local collection index:** [[research/Edge 2002 Full Quotation Curation|Edge 2002 Full Quotation Curation]] — retained source-first record for the response cohort and this passage's promotion status. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Edge|Edge]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Consciousness Continuity|Consciousness Continuity]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] - **Article:** [[articles/Mind Uploading and AI — The Host is Reusable and the Person is the Delta|Host Infrastructure Overview]] - **Article:** [[articles/Technologies for Consciousness Mapping and Transfer|Consciousness Mapping and Transfer]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Last Migration Will Not Be Human|The Last Migration]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/Personal Identity|Personal Identity]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Personal Identity|Personal Identity]] - [[wiki/Free Will|Free Will]] - [[wiki/Self-Awareness|Self-Awareness]] - [[wiki/Consciousness|Consciousness]] ## Share on Social Media ``` “For hundreds of years the pattern in science has been to overturn folk concepts, and it seems to me the brain may be the next field for such a conceptual revolution. It may be that in a hundred years people will speak of free will, or the unconscious, or emotion, in the way that we now speak of "sunrise" or "forever" — words that serve for day-to-day talk, but don't map reality. We know the sun doesn't rise because it is the earth that moves and we know that humanity and its planet and the universe itself won't last forever. I see signs that concepts of the mind are due for the same sort of revision. And so that's the question I keep returning to.” — David Berreby, 2002, Edge Annual Question, “WHAT IS YOUR QUESTION? ... WHY?” https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-david-berreby-free-emotion-become-folk-concepts-longer ```