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  3. If it were possible to expand indefinitely what consciousness is able to encompass, one of the most fundamental dreams of humank

If it were possible to expand indefinitely what consciousness is able to encompass, one of the most fundamental dreams of humank

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问题    If it were possible to expand indefinitely what consciousness is able to encompass, one of the most fundamental dreams of humankind would come true. It would be almost as good as being immortal or godlike. We could think everything, feel everything, do everything, scan through so much information that we could fill up every fraction of a second with a rich array of experiences.
   Unfortunately, the nervous system has definite limits on how much information it can process at any given time Thoughts have to follow each other, or they get jumbled. While we are thinking about a problem we cannot truly experience either happiness or sadness. 【F1】We cannot run, sing, and balance the checkbook simultaneously, because each one of these activities exhausts most of our capacity for attention.
   In our scientific knowledge we are on the verge of being able to estimate how much information the central nervous system is capable of processing. 【F2】It seems we can manage at most seven bits of information at any one time, and that the shortest time it takes to discriminate between one set of bits and another is about 1/18 of a second. By using these figures one concludes that it is possible to process at most 126 bits of information per second, or 7,560 per minute, or almost half a million per hour. Over a lifetime of seventy years, and counting sixteen hours of waking time each day, this amounts to about 185 billion bits of information. It seems like a huge amount, but in reality it does not go that far.
   The limitation of consciousness is demonstrated by the fact that to understand what another person is saying we must process 40 bits of information each second. 【F3】If we assume the upper limit of our capacity to be 126 bits per second, it follows that to understand what three people are saying simultaneously is theoretically possible, but only by managing to keep out of consciousness every other thought or sensation. 【F4】We couldn’t, for instance, be aware of the speakers’ expressions, nor could we wonder about why they are saying what they are saying, or notice what they are wearing.
   Of course, these figures are only suggestive at this point. 【F5】The optimists claim that through the course of evolution the nervous system has become very good at "gathering together" bits of information so that processing capacity is constantly expanded. But such ability does not help as much as one might expect. So the 185 billion events to be enjoyed over our mortal days might be either an overestimate or an underestimate. In any case, an individual can experience only so much.
【F5】
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答案乐观主义者声称，在进化的过程中，神经系统已经变得善于“聚集”信息单位，所以其处理能力不断地得到扩大。
解析 ①本句为主从复合句，包含一个宾语从句和一个结果状语从句。②主句为主谓宾结构，that引导从句充当主句的宾语。宾语从句中，through the course of evolution在句中作方式状语，其中of evolution作the course的后置定语。of information作bits的后置定语，修饰bits，说明bits是信息单位。③so that引导结果状语从句，阐明上述行为所产生的结果。
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