Before the Beginning

If time passes and there's no one there to experience it, does it really exist? And if we can't see the whole universe, how do we know it's there? If it stretches on to infinity without edges or a center, did it really have a beginning, and if so, what came before that?: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130502-what-came-before-the-big-bang/1