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Originally Posted by Gandalf223
Those few you name are all pretty well documented.
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Is that what it takes? Good documentation? And how do you justify your excessive skepticism if you are, for the most part, unaware of the "documentation", i.e., the scientific literature, or you don't have the background involving years of study to understand that literature?
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Originally Posted by Gandalf223
Dark matter, OTOH, remains undetected despite some tantalizing observations. Just as an unexplained loud noise in the forest is not proof of Bigfoot, observations which are consistent with the existence of dark matter don't prove it.
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I don't think you are aware of or understand recent observations in this area of investigation. In other words, it appears you just don't know what you're talking about.
And it probably should have been mentioned earlier, but your demand for "proof" evidences a misunderstanding about science in general. There is no "proof" in science. In mathematics, yes, but not in science. If something was "proved" in science, that would mean the explanation was fixed forever, with no possibility for modification. Science is an opponent of such dogmatic thinking. The more independent lines of observational support a theory has, the stronger that theory is. But you'll never hear a scientist claim any theory represents "absolute truth."
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Originally Posted by Gandalf223
Note that I've not said dark matter doesn't exist. I've merely tried to suggest that slavishly jumping on the bandwagon of the latest popular theory does not guarantee a win in the general election of the universe. An open mind must also be open to the idea that an idea is just a wild guess. It might be right, but then again......
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Well, if you're claiming that dark matter is just a wild guess, then, again, you
really don't know what you're talking about. I'm not saying dark matter must be the answer, either; however, the observational support for dark matter has fairly recently taken a leap forward, and the DM explanation has become quite compelling. And there is no competing theory that explains all the observations. As DM continues to gain observational support, your excessive skepticism of it becomes less and less reasonable.