3 ms·

> 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 does

> 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 ago
God 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 ago
Okay, 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.
- thinkloop 7y ago
  My point was they're equally weak explanations, not that God was the worth considering as an explanation. Added "/s" to clarify.
  - nxpnsv 7y ago
    It is not an explanation it’s a name for a phenomenon that no physicists will tell you is fully understood.
Filligree 7y ago
The 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 ago

God 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 ago

Okay, 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.

thinkloop 7y ago
My point was they're equally weak explanations, not that God was the worth considering as an explanation. Added "/s" to clarify.
- nxpnsv 7y ago
  It is not an explanation it’s a name for a phenomenon that no physicists will tell you is fully understood.

Filligree 7y ago

The 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.