[fastaguy88]

“Could” seems to cover a very wide range of probabilities. The tricky question is, is there a probability > 0.0 that is consistent with “could not”. If not, then “could” does not really impart much information.

[mc32]

Right, as in it could, in theory, hide in our solar system, in the future.

I don't know what's happened to people, but it seems they've thrown out any common sense just to hedge on an improbable outcome.