6. Consciousness depends on manipulating time.
6.意识的存在有赖于处理时间的能力。
Many cognitive abilities are important for consciousness, and we don’t yet have a complete picture. But it’s clear that the ability to manipulate time and possibility is a crucial feature. In contrast to aquatic life, land-based animals, whose vision-based sensory field extends for hundreds of meters, have time to contemplate a variety of actions and pick the best one. The origin of grammar allowed us to talk about such hypothetical futures with each other. Consciousness wouldn’t be possible without the ability to imagine other times.
对于人的意识来说，许多认知能力都是重要的，而这些方面我们并没有完全弄清。但有一点可以确定：处理时间和可能性的能力是决定性的。和水生动物不同，陆生动物的感官场建立在视觉的基础上，可以延展好几百米远，因此它们有时间考虑各种行动并选择最好的一种。语法的产生让我们可以谈论假想的未来。如果没有想象不同的时间的能力，意识将不可能产生。