Also, to answer your question about “probability” in a sister chain: yes, “probability” can be in someone’s ontology. Things don’t have to “exist” to be in an ontology.
Here’s another real-world example:
You are playing a game. Maybe you’ll get a heart, maybe you won’t. The concept of probability exists for you.
This person — https://youtu.be/ilGri-rJ-HE?t=364 — is creating a tool-assisted speedrun for the same game. On frame 4582 they’ll get a heart, on frame 4581 they won’t, so they purposefully waste a frame to get a heart (for instance). “Probability” is not a thing that exists for them — for them the universe of the game is fully deterministic.
The person’s ontology is “right” and your ontology is wrong. On the other hand, your ontology is useful for you when playing the game, and their ontology wouldn’t be. You don’t even need to have different knowledge about the game; you both know the game is deterministic, and still it changes nothing.
Actually, let’s do a 2x2 matrix for all combinations of, let’s say, “probability” and “luck” in one’s personal ontology:
Person C: probability and luck both exist. Probability is partly influenced/swayed by luck.
Person D: probability exists, luck doesn’t. (“You” are person D here.)
Person E: luck exists, probability doesn’t. If you didn’t get a heart, you are unlucky today for whatever reason. If you did get a heart, well, you could be even unluckier but you aren’t. An incredibly lucky person could well get a hundred hearts in a row.
Person F: probability and luck both don’t exist and our lives are as deterministic as the game; using the concepts of probability or luck even internally, as “fake concepts”, is useless because actually everything is useless. (Some kind of fatalism.)
//
Now imagine somebody who replies to this comment saying “you could rephrase this in terms of beliefs”. This would be an example of a person saying essentially “hey, you should’ve used [my preferred ontology] instead of yours”, one where you use the concept of “belief” instead of “ontology”. Which is fine!
Also, to answer your question about “probability” in a sister chain: yes, “probability” can be in someone’s ontology. Things don’t have to “exist” to be in an ontology.
Here’s another real-world example:
You are playing a game. Maybe you’ll get a heart, maybe you won’t. The concept of probability exists for you.
This person — https://youtu.be/ilGri-rJ-HE?t=364 — is creating a tool-assisted speedrun for the same game. On frame 4582 they’ll get a heart, on frame 4581 they won’t, so they purposefully waste a frame to get a heart (for instance). “Probability” is not a thing that exists for them — for them the universe of the game is fully deterministic.
The person’s ontology is “right” and your ontology is wrong. On the other hand, your ontology is useful for you when playing the game, and their ontology wouldn’t be. You don’t even need to have different knowledge about the game; you both know the game is deterministic, and still it changes nothing.
Actually, let’s do a 2x2 matrix for all combinations of, let’s say, “probability” and “luck” in one’s personal ontology:
Person C: probability and luck both exist. Probability is partly influenced/swayed by luck.
Person D: probability exists, luck doesn’t. (“You” are person D here.)
Person E: luck exists, probability doesn’t. If you didn’t get a heart, you are unlucky today for whatever reason. If you did get a heart, well, you could be even unluckier but you aren’t. An incredibly lucky person could well get a hundred hearts in a row.
Person F: probability and luck both don’t exist and our lives are as deterministic as the game; using the concepts of probability or luck even internally, as “fake concepts”, is useless because actually everything is useless. (Some kind of fatalism.)
//
Now imagine somebody who replies to this comment saying “you could rephrase this in terms of beliefs”. This would be an example of a person saying essentially “hey, you should’ve used [my preferred ontology] instead of yours”, one where you use the concept of “belief” instead of “ontology”. Which is fine!