We're not bumping heads, John. We're talking about different things. I'm talking about the physics we know -- you're asking why physics doesn't answer all the questions you want to ask in the order you want to ask them. That's the difference between objective science and personal belief.
You ask, " ... if every particle is moving relative to every other particle, how is the information of prior configurations of these particles being preserved?"
Those are two mutually dependent (covariant) events. The discrete measurement of relative motion, and the continuous geometric record. Yes, the information of prior states is preserved in the geometry. Understand this, and you'll get closer to understanding Julian Barbour's program of shape dynamics, rather than just flailing against it without actually knowing what it is.
"Isn't such information essentially being written over, as one would rewrite a computer memory?"
What's meant by "writing over" is different from "erasing." Writing over means to randomize information, not rub it out. The information isn't gone, just difficult to recover, like a shredded document.
"Which goes to the nature of time; Is blocktime physically real, or is time a measure of real change?"
And then you introduce this nonsequitur. The nature of time -- whatever it is -- does not have a covariant relation to information, because time and space are not independent of each other in a relativistic theory. For all that we don't know about time, we know at least that much -- that is, physically real information and physically real spacetime are interactive, like any quantity that can be called physical " ... independent in its properties, having a physical effect but not influenced by physical conditions." (~ Einstein) George Ellis' theory of evolving blocktime exploits the interaction of information and spacetime by framing it in a complex system dynamic.
So your question -- "Is blocktime physically real, or is time a measure of real change?" -- is not even a true question, with an either-or alternative. It follows that if blocktime is physically real, time intervals are a measure real change, *and* vice versa.
Tom
