RJ: I thought we'd already been through what you're saying here before:
No, because GR black holes can exist in an outside observer's causal present. This is
different from the future death of our sun and the life of Napoleon which are, respectively, exclusively confined to our causal future and our causal past.
I've never seen you give a good explanation of why this discussion on defining "existence" should suddenly become a big deal for black holes or what difference you are expecting it to make.
I mean, suppose an astronomer looks into a telescope and sees something like
this rapidly getting bigger in the sky. What kind of reaction are you expecting?
Astronomer: There's a black hole heading for us! It's going to swallow the Earth in less than an hour! According to GR I'm going to be spaghettified! I'm too young for that!
RJBeery: Actually, according to how I define "exist", the black hole you think you see approaching us doesn't "exist" "now".
Astronomer: Oh. I didn't think of it that way. That's okay then.
...?!