TH> Time isn't like that. Time progresses moment by moment - it doesn't
 TH> matter if you measure moments in years, seconds, etc - the effect is
 TH> the same. One finite moment of time passes and ends, then another
 TH> comes and goes, and so on. It is a finite progression of events. Time
 TH> is continually moving toward the future.
 MR> You seem to define a "moment" as an interval of time. Others may
 MR> define a "moment" as a single point on a continuous space such as the
 MR> "real number line". I have not yet seen any argument from you which
 MR> shows that time is not a continuum.  I'll keep reading.
By my repeated use of the word "continuum" throughout the beginning of
this thread, I would say my position is clear. Time is like a river -
in order to conveniently measure it, you can divide it into gallons,
pints, or whatever, but that doesn't mean it's not a continuum. Its true
that the units used to measure a river, or time, are actually passing by
as per the measurement process, but that does not mean that it isn't a
continuum. However way you look at it, the effect is the same = it is flowing
from one place to another.
 TH> If time were infinite, the it would not pass. it continually passes
 TH> from one mode of temporal existence to new modes that it did not
 TH> occupy. That is why there are moments that have not happened yet -
 TH> time's existence is finite, and as more moments pass, time is covering
 TH> new moments that it did not previously cover. Its the same as the
 TH> chicken and the egg.
 MR> I see no reason to conclude either of these:
 MR> (infinite time continuum) => (no "passage" of time)
 MR> (finite time continuum) => (some moments "have not happened")
So, the future already happened?
 TH> Arbitrarily saying that it always existed is not only illogical, but
 TH> a cowardly cop-out. Every finite sequence has a beginning.
 MR> I don't see how accusations of cowardice contribute to your argument.
The only thing you seem to able to give me is simply saying "no".
 TH> It hinges on the first question I posed. We can agree that if there
 TH> was ever a point in which absolutely nothing exists, then nothing
 TH> would EVER exist.
 If there was a point in which nothing at all existed (no forces, God,
 quantum probabilities, etc) then how would anything ever exist? How did
 the universe get here?
 
... Blue Wave - World Tour - 1998
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