In the pre-interview thread I linked to a few talks by Courtney where he tackles these issues and also talks about the how the RV sequence (Target selection, Target viewing, Evaluation of data) is critical.
All of this leads me to this idea:
Many possible futures exist simultaneously, but which one is realized in the now moment is a matter of choice or randomness. And if the future is not fixed, the past is not fixed either because the past is constructed of memories and evidence and future discoveries delivering new evidence can change the story of the past. Our story about the past is composed of information networked together in the present creating a solid structure in the now moment which decreases in solidity and stability as we look forwards or backwards to a vanishing point.
Any being that can traverse space-time is not merely a space-traveler, or a time-traveler, but a story traveler. We exist in a cosmic hierarchy, and it is engaged in battles over not merely real-estate, but battles over story lines. So those who would pop into our reality and make edits to objects or memories or DNA are editing the story and not merely physical artifacts.
I have two ways of visualizing this idea:
Imagine walking down a winding path. The path is composed of puzzle pieces assembled together to form the image of the path. The puzzle is firmly assembled where you stand in the "now" moment, but as you look forwards or backwards down the path the puzzle pieces begin to separate and even further out they become completely disassembled and float in a cloud of possible configurations. As you walk along the path the puzzle pieces assemble together in front of you to form a solid path and dissolve behind you. It is the web of collective interactions that is the magical force that assembles the pieces underneath your feet.
Another way to visualize this:
Imagine you are a very small worm eating your way through a very large apple. As you progress you can choose your direction. Behind you is a little worm hole extending through the solid body of the apple a short distance. But because you are a very tiny worm inside a very large living apple, a short distance behind you the apple flesh grows back together sealing off your worm hole so that you cannot tell from which direction you came. So basically from where you are in this now moment you possess memories and observations which extend your path a short distance behind you, but a little further back and there are multiple paths that intersect with your path. And in front of you are multiple possible paths intersecting with your path. The photon passing through the double-slit has such a short worm hole trailing behind it that by the time it reaches the detector, no one can tell what its past was, so multiple possible pasts intersect with the now moment resulting in the interference pattern. We are much more complex full of more interactions, so our past trails a little further back, but neverthless we have a vanishing point in our history beyond which we cannot tell anything about our past and at that point multiple pasts intersect our present.
So "we are bugs trapped in the amber of this moment" with multiple paths intersecting the now moment. (I've been listening to Slaughterhouse Five... good book!)