Everything is in the present. I am here, no matter what I think of. I can see things in my mind's eye when I read a book...but if the book is pure fiction, the events are not real, in the past, now, or in the future.

Don't confuse memory with reality.

The mind and its continued existence after death is a different subject, but so far we only recall what we experienced in life. You must remember that "consciousness" is not a thing unto itself. If we are conscious, we are conscious of SOMETHING. And that something is in the present, for the past is over with and the future has not happened yet. Otherwise we are dreaming. The information of the material world IS physical, and it will degrade without preservation effort. Plenty of elderly people have found that their memories also degrade (which is why it is important, in my opinion, to keep mementos).

Don't bother to overawe me with Bible quotations...which don't prove any point in a contest. I am a Christian. You don't have to tell me what I already know.

News to me that 8-track and VHS players are still around. So much the better. I see that LP records are making a comeback as well, along with vacuum tube electronics. But some technology is gone forever: Greek fire, 16-inch naval cannon, megalithic construction methods.