Replies

The whole point of the "fly ball" analogy is to give effect to our "sense" of the future. To chase a ball moving at an oblique angle -- and to judge where to be at some later point -- is more than a mechanical act. Like anything involving planning, the activity doesn't even make sense unless we have a non-abstract "later" in mind. The future, in that example, is quite concrete -- it only lacks our (intentional) participation, which we are providing.

Is the future "real" in that example? Hard to say ... by taking positive action we certainly make it real. One supposes it's a reasonable analogy to the "observer" aspect of quantum theory.... And in that sense I suppose the future in our macro world, is similar to what we can observe in the quantum world. I don't think there's serious doubt that the quantum world exists in some objective sense ... and I think "the future" has many of the same features.

As religious folks, of course, we accept that the "God's eye view" of reality most likely eliminates the distinction between present and past, at least in the way we perceive them.