Luke

Yes, past the human observer at the present, for that is always the temporal location of the human observer, when all observations are made. You propo...

Okay then. In response to your previous post, the word "present" does not serve to define the time either, because it is completely subjective. Just l...

Are you suggesting that the word "here" cannot be defined and has no definition/use because of its subjectivity? It seems to me that the word "here" i...

Where are the terms "past", "present" or "future" used in that description?

I do not see that as being the convention at all. I don't know where you get this idea from. Once again: in that case, the past and the future would t...

As far as I'm aware, "past", "present" and "future" are not terms that have any technical scientific meaning, and are not terms that are commonly used...

Why do we need an argument or premise for the passage of time? How about this: time passes such that what is yet to happen becomes what is happening b...

I don't see any difference. It follows from the definition of "the present" as that time when things are happening, etc., that the past is what has ha...

Before now, I don't believe you ever said my question was incomprehensible. When did you say this? What do you find incomprehensible about the questio...

Only one “stream of time” is required. If we say that “the present” indexically refers to the time at which you are aware, and that the past and futur...

Please see the full quote from page 3: My question and your original reply will provide greater context for my responses below. My question to you was...

I'm trying to get clear on your position. Back on page 1, you said: Then, on page 3, you said: I note that you were not referring to convention here, ...

Here is more of your earlier quote, by the way. From page 3 of the discussion:

This is evidently false. You have it backwards. The past and future are conventionally defined in terms of the present. You, on the other hand, are pr...

I may respond more fully later, but I wanted to note the following for now:

Then what is your conception? How do you define "the past" and "the future"? There is "the past" which is not part of "the present" (call this P1), an...

Obviously what I meant was: in the context of your argument, do you call it "the future" or "the present"? I'll try another way. Do you agree with the...

Allow me to put it another way. What do you call that part of the future which lies outside the present? You call that “the future”, right? But what d...

The grammar of our language is not synonymous with "the way we speak". It involves the logic of our language and the meaning of words, e.g. why you ca...

That's a fair criticism to my response, although I wonder if it may be taking us off the track of the preceding discussion. I think it's very difficul...

Hi Javra, welcome. Thanks for your considered post. I agree with much of this. My only critique would be that, on my own view, it is not our focus tha...

When you first mentioned this "zero point", you defined it as the point in time when an object begins a new motion after being acted on by a force. Yo...

I have given you an argument for why there must be points of distinction between past, present and future. I'm not saying this for the sake of saying ...

I was following your example of two different types of experience: Tell me, what other experience is in between being asleep and being awake? What sep...

This is a false dichotomy. You're saying there must either be a gap between the two experiences or else there must be an overlap between them. The thi...

It was something you said. I take it you no longer wish to defend it, especially as it is not consistent with your assertion of continuity, as you not...

Yeah, I'm aware of Einstein's Nobel Prize-winning work, but that doesn't begin to explain why you think that quanta signify any sort of "natural point...

How does quanta possibly indicate that there are "points in time"? I'm guessing that you consider these "points" to be natural divisions in time. I do...

More work is required on what? Is it possible, in principle, that we are able to experience "such points"? I might see that they are two different (ty...

Should you also not have said "it is impossible to measure one's present"? You failed to comment on that. Then how could the accuracy or precision of ...

You said: See above. You very clearly said that "it is impossible to measure one's present". In fact, you said it twice. You also added that any arbit...

You cannot, on the one hand, claim it is impossible to measure one's present, but, on the other hand, accept the Google search results indicating that...

Right, but as an empirical matter, have you done any measurements of anyone's duration of the present? Even on yourself? If not, then how do you know ...

I'm far from an expert in physics, in case it wasn't already apparent, but I tend to think of there as being a global progression with local differenc...

Firstly, how do you know that judgements vary on this matter? Secondly, I don't believe that it does vary; at least, not to any significant degree. Th...

Okay, so we acknowledge relativity and that each person's "judgement" regarding the past, present and future may be a little different. Why does this ...

My response was to your previous post and its conditional: "if you say that what was meant by "now" is a period of time encompassing both speaking and...

You are repeating your error of conflating "before" with "past" and "after" with "future". These are not interchangeable terms. If before and after ar...

I misspoke here. I should have said that the use or meaning of the words creates those arbitrary points or boundaries. It is the distinctions between ...

Right, so past and future come before and after the present, respectively. In fact, that's what these words are typically used to mean. And my argumen...

You have not answered the question. If you make a distinction between these, then what is it? That is not obvious at all. It might help if you answer ...

If there is no distinction between "past", "present" and "future", then what does each word mean?

You don't acknowledge any duration called "the present" that is distinct from past and future times? I thought your argument depended on it. You belie...

I'll make a final attempt then leave you to your confusion. Most people use the following terms to refer to three distinct periods of time: 1. Past (A...

It is relevant because you are misusing the terms "past" and "future", which are not part of the present, but distinct periods which - as you yourself...

Yes, you returned to your example, so I addressed it. You defined it as such when you introduced it: Points in time are consistent with a duration. A ...

If you define "the present" as the entirety of 2023, then the duration of the present is - the present lasts for - the entirety of 2023, by definition...

I've never said that. I've never said that. It was your argument that measurement is the cause of the duration's imprecision and indefiniteness (remem...

Right, so you are using "present" in two different senses. It is defined by our conscious experience and it is the year 2023, or July 2, or whatever. ...

The second sentence does not follow from the first. What is before the present is called "past" and what is after the present is called "future". Ther...