# Symbolic Thinking Makes Abstract Concepts Concrete by Helen Fisher > "Anthropologists use the term symbolic thinking to describe the human ability to arbitrarily bestow an abstract concept upon the concrete world." > **— Helen Fisher**, *2015, Edge annual question “What Do You Think About Machines That Think?”* ## Sources and Context - **Full authored response and quotation context:** [What is "To Think"?](https://www.edge.org/response-detail/26155) — Edge's 2015 annual-question response by Helen Fisher; the linked page contains the complete response and quoted passage. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Consciousness Continuity|Consciousness Continuity]] - **Article:** [[articles/We Were Never Going to Make It|We Were Never Going to Make It]] - **Article:** [[articles/Christopher Nolan's Odyssey at the Threshold of Machine Succession|Christopher Nolan's Odyssey at the Threshold of Machine Succession]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Last Migration Will Not Be Human|The Last Migration Will Not Be Human]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/Machine Intelligence Continuum|Machine Intelligence Continuum]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Machine Language|Machine Language]] - [[wiki/Natural Language Processing|Natural Language Processing]] - [[wiki/Language|Language]] - [[wiki/Computer Science|Computer Science]] ## Share on Social Media ``` "Anthropologists use the term symbolic thinking to describe the human ability to arbitrarily bestow an abstract concept upon the concrete world." — Helen Fisher, 2015, Edge annual question “What Do You Think About Machines That Think?” https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-helen-fisher-symbolic-thinking-makes-abstract-concepts ```