I also find dark matter to be "inelegant". A slashdot quip from a while ago summarized it for me: Dark Matter is the Phlogiston of Contemporary Cosmology

I also find dark matter to be "inelegant". A slashdot quip from a while ago summarized it for me: Dark Matter is the Phlogiston of Contemporary Cosmology Of course, just because I find it inelegant doesn't mean it can't exist. The predictions of quantum mechanics, verified by the behavior of the billions of transistors in the very computer I'm typing this on, are way "crazier" than what is postulated for dark matter. I'm looking forward to new theories that can explain what we now observe as "dark matter" without having to invent a new kind of matter specifically for it! Carver Mead is a very famous guy who also wants to shake things up[1]. Maybe he's turned into a crank in his old age, but, to steal from Ghostbusters: "the usual stuff isn't working". [1] http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/02/20/carver_mead_on_the_future_of_science/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/02/20/carver_mead_on_the_f...