4 ms·
> Dark matter permeates the universe. In fact it does more than permeate. It is the universe. 85% percent of everything that exists is actually dark matter. We
by thinkloop 7y ago
> Dark matter permeates the universe. In fact it does more than permeate. It is the universe. 85% percent of everything that exists is actually dark matter. We can't detect it, we can't see it. But it's there.
Dark matter is so cringy and one of the most embarrassing moves from physics. Instead of admitting there is a massive flaw in the models, they decided to name it.
- namanyayg 7y agoWhat "massive flaw"? The model works for most uses. Why can't there be matter that only interacts with gravity? Do we have any explanation that makes sense without supposing the existing of dark matter?
- thinkloop 7y ago> Do we have any explanation that makes sense without supposing the existing of dark matter? Why not just go with "God" /s? Being unable to explain things doesn't mean we should pretend to invent some. It literally is, in this case, the name for that which we cannot explain, without being forthright about it. > The model works for most uses. Newtonian physics also worked for 100% of cases for centuries. The "massive flaw" is that a massive "85%" of the universe is composed of this thing that our models can't explain and our solution was to name it.
- adrianN 7y agoGod is a much more complex explanation than "Something like matter, but it doesn't interact with other matter except via gravity". It's also much harder to design experiments to falsify different versions of God, than it is to design experiments that falsify different version of dark matter. For example we are quite sure that Dark matter is not just cool ordinary matter (MACHOs) because we looked for that and didn't find it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_matter#Detection_of_dark_matter_particles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_matter#Detection_of_dark_... Newtonian physics is still taught and used by almost everyone who needs physics. All engineers use Newtonian physics for structural calculations. It's a perfectly adequate approximation for everyday reality.
- namanyayg 7y agoOkay, so you think dark matter is unfeasible but a supreme creator makes more sense to you. I was under the impression that I'll find some new knowledge of rationality or physics, but thanks for sharing your views nonetheless.
- Filligree 7y agoThe universe consists of particles and fields, which can be mapped to vertexes and edges on a graph. The graph isn't fully connected. It isn't close. It shouldn't be a surprise that some particles are only connected to each other via gravity -- several are only connected via two. What I find interesting is the possibility that dark matter is made up of multiple particles, which interact with each other, but not ours. There might be multiple such groupings. That would neatly explain why most of the universe is dark matter, and we ourselves would be dark matter to someone else.
- adrianN 7y agoNit: Dark matter only interacts with gravity.
- namanyayg 7y agoThanks for the correction, edited.
- scarygliders 7y agoThank you! I'm not the only one on this planet who thinks the whole dark matter thing is baloney. "It's there but we can't see, detect, or feel it. But we need it to exist because it explains some phenomina we can't figure out without it." Baloney. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9GR3ktjbNU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9GR3ktjbNU
- krapp 7y agoSince "dark matter" seems to be one of HN's trigger phrases, I'm linking a recently linked article and HN thread explaining the rationale behind dark matter, and discussions of the common alternative explanations[0]. For posters who instinctively dismiss Medium articles, there are plenty of harder links therein. The TL;DR is that scientists are not actually idiots who simply can neither comprehend, nor accept, flaws in their models, and chances are they've considered whatever obvious thing popped into your head as soon as you read the words "dark matter." The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it's stranger than we can imagine. [0]https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18207276 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18207276 [1]https://medium.com/starts-with-a-bang/this-is-the-real-reason-we-havent-directly-detected-dark-matter-3d04021b314e https://medium.com/starts-with-a-bang/this-is-the-real-reaso...