True. However, there is no such thing as ‘impossible’, or probability 0. And while in common language people do use ‘impossible’ for what is merely ‘very improbable’, there’s no accepted, specific threshold there. Your earlier point about people seeing a fake distinction between things that seem possible but unlikely in their model and things that seem impossible in their model contributes to that. I prefer to use ‘very improbable’ for things that are very improbable, and ‘unlikely’ for things that are merely unlikely, but it is important to keep in mind that most people do not use the same words I do and to communicate accurately I need to remember that.
Okay, I just typed that and then I went back and looked and it seems that we’ve talked a circle, which is a good indication that there is no disagreement in this conversation. I think that I’ll leave it here, unless you believe otherwise.
True. However, there is no such thing as ‘impossible’, or probability 0. And while in common language people do use ‘impossible’ for what is merely ‘very improbable’, there’s no accepted, specific threshold there. Your earlier point about people seeing a fake distinction between things that seem possible but unlikely in their model and things that seem impossible in their model contributes to that. I prefer to use ‘very improbable’ for things that are very improbable, and ‘unlikely’ for things that are merely unlikely, but it is important to keep in mind that most people do not use the same words I do and to communicate accurately I need to remember that.
Okay, I just typed that and then I went back and looked and it seems that we’ve talked a circle, which is a good indication that there is no disagreement in this conversation. I think that I’ll leave it here, unless you believe otherwise.