I wouldn’t be surprised if something like this turned out to be true. There’s a lot of weird stuff happening in the early universe that shouldn’t be there - fully formed galaxies, supermassive black holes that shouldn’t have had time to form. Also astronomers have recently found out that a lot of the type 1A supernovae they’ve been replying on as standard candles, might not actually be of the standard type.
The early universe stuff, if you mean what’s coming from JWST, could be because they only have a small sample atm. More observations promised “soon”. Maybe Idk cosmology any better than Elon, but it seems like there are many assumptions that can be questioned where doing that would lead to a wide range of results.
If you want to completely throw out dark matter as Elon suggests, then it’s cats and dogs, living together, mass hysteria time. Not many people are going along with that.
I mean it literally. When people approach me to talk about physics and they've this opinion it's the number one indicator it'll turn out they have no idea about physics.
— Martin Bauer (@martinmbauer) July 17, 2023
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I started to read the book but didn’t get very far. 
I watch How the Universe Works religiously. Even before JWST there was a big mystery around how supermassive black holes got so big so fast. Scientists have nothing but speculation, because just by sheer gobbling stuff up there isn’t enough time. Also why there are almost no intermediate sized black holes is another weird one.
The Webb finding fully formed galaxies earlier than expected is another data point that there might be some gap in understanding about the early universe.
And even Filipenko, one of the scientists who determined the expansion of the universe was accelerating, said on an episode that the new findings out type 1A supernovae might throw our idea of the universe’s expansion into question.
Everything doesn’t have to be certain. Think about what we know now vs. 100 years ago. If we find out some of our assumptions were wrong it would be really exciting stuff. Filipenko thought it was cool. Just because dumbasses like Elon and Rogan latch onto it doesn’t mean people who actually respect science have to dig in and act like there are no mysteries left in the universe, or that it’s impossible further science will reveal incorrect assumptions.
Dark matter seems pretty obviously real based on how galaxies hold together and don’t fly apart at the speed they’re rotating. I haven’t heard any doubts about that on the show. What it actually is no one knows.
Also that tweet is arrogant and not really helpful towards the cause of getting the masses to like and respect science. There are legitimate if fringe theories of gravity/spacetime out there that obviate the need for dark matter. It’s not like it’s 100% settled science. Seems fair for amateurs to be curious.
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Looks like we just found out where the Dork Matter is.
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Sure. Everything is uncertain and contingent and subject to question. It’s hard to say if Elon has any valid objection to dark matter. Like maybe he wants direct evidence, which afaik is totally lacking. Maybe he dislikes particular dark matter particle candidates. Maybe he just hates Einstein, IDK.
Also that tweet is arrogant
You studied physics, right? Arrogance is not exactly atypical among physics professors. They’re lined up around the block to dunk on Elon.
There’s lots of good resources for the curious. I like Sabine Hossenfelder’s videos. The podcast Why this Universe is pretty good. And Sean Carroll regularly addresses cosmology. They’ve all covered dark matter.
I want to add that twitter is not in general a good place to learn things. The good stuff is news and links to resources. The bad stuff is rumors and gossip and people saying nasty things to each other. I probably shouldn’t spend as much time there as I do but then the same is true for this place.
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The two main pop physics voices in my head are Sean Carroll and Sabine Hossenfelder, so I was happy to hear she plans to dunk on the many worlds folks a bit soon, not that I have anything against many worlds but if you listen to a lot of Carroll you get a lot of many worlds content (and he’s perfectly fair about presenting other opinions, I am just curious to hear hers).
Fortunately Sabine has a thick skin. I guess people didn’t like what she said about EVs. And the particle physics guys really don’t like her. I don’t know what to make of the foundational arguments. Many worlds is weird, but I don’t see an alternative that isn’t. Maybe hidden variables?
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I assume she’s been firing shots at the particle physics guys for a while, but this was from earlier this year, don’t know if you caught it
With respect to foundations, I’m Marvin in the backseat of the car in Pulp Fiction, I don’t even have an opinion.
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We eventually found out what was in Marvin’s head
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Yeah, that really pissed them off. They didn’t like the suggestion they’re just trying to justify their jobs. I can’t help thinking the fact she’s a woman and can be just as combative as they are frustrates them. Otherwise they could just ignore her and get on with finding funding for the next collider project.
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This nerd discussion is fascinating, but how about an Elon meme instead?
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Does Sabine have a book? I can’t hang with youtubes.
Did Catturd not make Elon’s list of people to get paid?
I got the audio versions of Existential Physics and Lost in Math. The first was ok, haven’t listened to the second yet. They are for general audiences.
Adding: a common criticism is that she is “opinionated”, which is true, but just as true of other physicists. It could be the German accent that makes her seem a little more severe. Or maybe gender bias. I mean it’s not like Leonard Susskind or Will Kinney is going to be shy about revealing their feelings.
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Apparently he is a “have not”
Got a feeling that Twitter fucked up and sent his check to Catturd1
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