[Serious] Is the Past Real?

[polymath257]

That solely depends on your value system. You choose your value system and then figure out what you are obligated to do.

And presumably what one considers real has bearing on one's value system. Not even remotely suggesting that I have any answers. Nevertheless, it seems to me that the ontological status of the past and/or future somehow matters.

I would say that what you think is real will have an effect on how you apply the value system. I'm not too concerned about killing Sherlock Holmes when I close the book I am reading.