By Steven J. Grisafi, PhD.
I suppose that my assertion, that dark matter does not exist, is causing some consternation among the professionals, and confusion among the general public. I will try to address both concerns in this post. First, allow me to address any possible confusion among the lay population that may arise. The first question that may come to the mind of the non-scientist is: Are you saying that galaxies and galaxy clusters are two dimensional? No, this is not what I am saying. The information that is carried by the light reaching us from the distant galaxies is two dimensional and must be treated as such. This concept is readily apparent to any lay person who is an avid photographer. If you have ever used a telephoto lens to photograph a picture of distant objects you would notice a certain flattening appearance of the objects within the picture. Artists and draftsmen are familiar with the concept of the vanishing point. Most persons have noticed the illusion of the convergence of distant parallel railroad tracks. The light reaching us from distant galaxies is parallel light. The rays are all parallel to one another and all stereoscopic information regarding the objects is lost. When casting its information upon a photographic plate this loss of three dimensional information is fixed within a two dimensional projection of the three dimensional object. Thus decoding the information about the three dimensional object must begin by processing the information as two dimensional data.
Any consternation that may arise among professions with regard to my assertion that, for at least two generations, scientists throughout the world have been searching for a non-existent holy grail, needs to reckon the source of this consternation. The cause of the problem is readily apparent to all of us. It is the increasing need for scientists to focus narrowly their expertise to meet the insistent demands of employers who are unwilling to train their employees. In this ever increasingly competitive world economy employers demand scientists and engineers trained specifically for the employer’s industry. Our political leaders compound this problem by acquiescing to the demands of employers by asserting that the failure of the workforce to obtain full employment results from a mismatch of professional skills with the needs of industry. The politicians then earmark taxpayer money to specific programs designed to promote the training of ever more narrow minded scientists and engineers. We all know this is happening. Right now there is a large infusion of Federal money into technologies to promote the development of alternative energy sources. The result will be a generation of scientists and engineers with sharply focused skills for an industry that will eventually evaporate as quickly as it has arisen.
There is no substitute for the universal education. Our universities must resist the demands of industry to produce narrowly focused graduates for the immediate needs of employers. Most importantly, universities need to resist the temptation of big money Federal grants to cull their faculty expertise to attract the money. Scientists and engineers trained such that they cannot see the forest because of the trees eventually cost the American people more in the long run than they produce in the short run. Make sure your representative in Congress understands this.