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jimrandomh comments on Absence of Evidence Is Evidence of Absence - Less Wrong
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If absence of proof is not proof of absence, but absence of evidence is evidence of absence, what makes proof different from evidence?
Example: we currently have no evidence supporting the existence of planets orbiting stars in other galaxies, because our telescopes are not powerful enough to observe them. Should we take this as evidence that no galaxy except ours has planets around its stars?
Another example: before the invention of the microscope, there was no evidence supporting the existence of bacteria because there were no means to observe them. Should've this fact alone been interpreted as evidence of absence of bacteria (even though bacteria did exist before microscopes were invented)?
Proof means "extremely strong evidence". Absence of proof and absence of evidence are both evidence of absence. Their strength is determined by the probability with which we'd expect to see them, conditional on the thing existing and not existing.