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That's a neat rant, Tyger, but at this point there is little to no scientific evidence that dark matter would give us any sort of "power". It's more about confirming or refuting some ideas about why the universe is expanding at the rate it is.

Unfortunately, the idea of dark matter holding any kind of mystical powers is mostly a science fiction idea, right up there with tachyon beams and photon torpedoes.

I haven't hung around with any cosmologists in five or six years, but the last time I was involved in a deep discussion of dark matter, one of the prevailing theories was that a large quantity of dark matter in the universe was comprised of neutrinos. Neutrinos are a particle that interact so weakly with the world around them that they can pass straight through the Earth. In fact, in the course of reading this thread, hundreds of neutrinos have passed through your body. For many years, neutrinos were thought to be completely massless, like photons, but as of five years ago, several experiments had shown promising results that indicated neutrinos might have just a tiny bit of mass. Since there are SO MANY neutrinos in the universe, even a ridiculously small amount of mass could potentially explain a huge amount of dark matter.


At the end of the day, beyond any mystical ideas or sci-fi voodoo, the term "dark matter" means exactly what it sounds like - matter that we don't see. It could take the form of some exotic particle we have yet to detect, or it could be simple objects that don't reflect or produce light well enough for us to see them. The evidence for the former is starting to outweigh the evidence in favor of the latter, but that distinction is exactly what these sorts of "raccoon city" experiments are trying to determine. Either way, it's HIGHLY unlikely that an understanding of dark matter will give us any power over creation, or even any more power than we already know we can harness from nuclear energy.

Never meant to make it sound like a rant, just an observation of our history as a race. And believe me, I'm not one to think of dark matter as some "mystical power"; so let's leave that one in the fantasy section. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

My statement wasn't so much directed at the "unknown power" of dark matter, so much as the "unknown uses" that we, as a culture, would put the knowledge of dark matter to. My apologies if I mislead you in that.

As we discover more and more of our world and the universe around us, we continue to advance, both scientifically and technologically. Sadly, the staggering progress we achieve in these two areas far exceed our slow progress in such areas as: morality, responsibility, conscious, unity, compassion, empathy, respect.... I could go on, but I'm hoping you get my point.

As individuals, we can be seen to have these attributes; but put a large number of us together, and you see these disappear and become: ruthlessness, self-caring, rudeness, antagonism, greed, ignorance and so many other negative attributes so well displayed by those who live in large population cities.

I'm sure when the atom was first proven to exist, the farthest thing from their minds was," I really hope we can use this to make the most powerful bomb ever seen!" <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> They merely wanted to prove that it was there, nothing more. But look what that turned into. Sure, good things have come out of that discovery, but so have an equivalent number of bad things.

If Dark Matter is proven to exist, what lays down the road for the human race? What potential uses could we put such knowledge to?

Not trying to sound like a pessimist; just someone who is hesitant to see our race jump ahead light years when we haven't handled sublight speed....Sorry, couldn't resist the light-hearted Star Trek joke! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />


JYD#70 Warning! There are more than just dogs in this yard!