Chart, page-253

To hypothesize is fine...actually it is good and could even be encouraged, up to a point. For example Barry81 tries to hypothesize but misses the mark most of the time and seeks to have his view validated here as fact by the thumbs up he gets for his posts. So it doesn't even cut a debate on rational evidence (or logical assumptions and or beliefs). We certainly cannot go so far as experiential evidence as AEV or any of its officeholders have anything to hang on to or put forward as such, so...

Never let it slide in to reality unless there is something beyond even empirical evidence...along the lines of seeing the company you have invested in committed to being that part of the hypothesis that provides it with the best yield with trailing evidence of binding obligations and correlating performance and resource deployment.

You opened the statement with "IF" and therein lies the basis of a hypothesis with varying degrees of probability or types if you wish...the only type of outcome probability will be a theoretical one. A person with a risk bias will see it differently, and will seek to assess its likelyhood to ever occur or produce a material outcome. A risk based person looks to reality and potential likely events and outcomes - experiential evidence.

Enjoy the weekend.