There is something with enormous gravity influencing the movement of astronomical systems in ways for which we have no explanation. It is meant to be a placeholder until we can figure it out. This has worked before, e.g., Neptune, and perhaps planet 9 soon.
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Replying to @maxwellroe @vgr
Trust the model that has substantial predictive power, then back fill the holes as we learn more.
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Replying to @maxwellroe
Except Neptune distortions didn't require assumption of exotic types of matter, just an undetected lump of regular matter, so the analogy doesn't quite work. It's not a limitation of instruments or observations. It's an ontological limitation of theory.
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Replying to @vgr
A fair point. But, it’s impossible to deduce any real meaning from the universe around us, if we don’t stand upon the foundations of a few basic assumptions about the universe. Even if they’re only close approximations.
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Replying to @maxwellroe
"gravity" itself has undergone 2 redefinitions that completely altered its ontological character. It was a "force" under Newton, a space-time curvature effect under Einstein, and now a "wave-particle" under quantum gravity type theories. So the word doesn't matter much.
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Replying to @vgr
Gravity was a “force” under Newton, and yet we were able to infer the movement of an entire solar system. Gravity was a space-time contortion under Einstein, and yet we were able to correct for relativity in GPS satellites. My point is that it’s still useful.
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Replying to @maxwellroe
I'm not sure what you're arguing about tbh. There are observations that admit certain unsatisfactory descriptions under current models. It is okay to call unsatisfactory things unsatisfactory as far as I'm concerned.
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It's useful to me. Labeling things unsatisfactory is the starting point for thinking about them for me.
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Replying to @vgr
I see and that makes sense. I guess my point is, dark matter isn’t usually claimed as the final answer, it is well known as a placeholder. I agree it’s unsatisfying; and just reiterating that placeholders are valuable.
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Replying to @vgr
Sorry if that reply seemed snarky. It wasn’t meant to be.
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