As far as I can gather, he's essentially stating that physical laws aren't universal. We can't prove that they are, though Occam's Razor and the homogeneousness of the observed universe suggest that they are.
But certainly, if we were to assume that there is no universal gravitational constant, then there's no support for dark matter theories.
Re: I am not saying physical laws are not universal
quote:If you observed this economy from a distance (through time) you would see evidence of order (laws of some kind) and continuous decay.
So the gravitational constant changes with time. If this is the case, then shouldn't different galactic clusters at approximately the same distance require the same correction to their gravitational constants to account for their motions? Is this observed?
quote:you made in your original post a physics claim that with a pocket calculator can be shown as absurd. Namely, the ejection of something like the LMC from the Milky Way bulge. I challenged you earlier to get out your calculator but you never replied.
I'm guessing that your belief that Newton's Laws of Motion even apply outside of our solar system is somehow rooted in your blind acceptance of Aristotle's first principle.
quote:The earliest people could build great megaliths. The Egyptians left records that only a few thousand skilled workers built the pyramids.
Coming to think of it, ancient Greeks had a habit of totally wiping out Persian armies while only sustaining a few casualties themselves, despite their lesser numbers―at least according to Herodotus. Maybe "matter changes as a relationship" through space as well as time? Maybe 2,000 years ago, people were born stronger the further West you went? Then again, maybe I'm jumping to conclusions.
Edited spelling.
This message has been edited by Funkaloyd, Tue, 26-Apr-2005 01:48 PM
Back to dark matter and black holes: Before the planet Neptune was observed as a planet by any Human eye, its existence was inferred by unexpected deviations in the predicted orbit of Uranus. By observing Neptune's gravitational effects alone, scientists (their first principle and all) managed to very accurately predict its position and orbit. The existence of dark matter and black holes is inferred in the same way, and I'm sure that you'll agree that Neptune―despite being invisible to the naked eye―is very real.