The idea behind the book was that a new approach was needed to solve Chalmers' 'hard problem' of consciousness. The book does not provide a total solution to the problem, but it suggests a new approach that will probably help philosophy, neuroscience and quantum physics in their endeavours. Among other things, the book suggests that human consciousness is a two-tiered system, whereby basic consciousness is shared with all other mammalians, but high consciousness is only human, transmitted culturally, as we are an altricial species and our young require parental and communal education to develop full human consciousness. That, of course, includes language, imagination, adventurousness and time, among other things.

The other consequence of this approach is that time becomes just a human device. Time can be measured and is normally used as a variable in scientific research. The book suggests that time should not be included in research as a variable, as it is only a tool, like a number. The only variable that could replace time is change.

No other animal species has a sense of time. Only humans have notions such as present, past and future. Time is a human device to help us understand the evolution of our memory and our imagination.