I was working on a machine last week that's supposed to turn on when it's plugged into a battery. And it did that, but the battery it was plugged into was faulty, so we changed it. And then it wouldn't turn on when plugged in. We tried it with several different batteries, and it would only turn on when plugged into that first one. We couldn't figure it out.

The next day, I came into work and told my coworker that battery is magic. Because it was the only explanation that could accurately predict the results we saw.

Then the battery stopped being magic.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago (1 children)

You have a fundamental misunderstanding of physics if you think that analogy is even remotely similar to dark matter.

[–] Caketaco 2 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Let’s say I construct an apple orchard with harvesters that run on batteries. The batteries send power to the machines when they are inserted into them, and the harvesters use the battery power to harvest 100g apples. If I weigh the battery before putting it in a machine, and the battery weighs 1,000g, would that be fucked up, or what?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

Look, all I know is that when I bake an apple pie with those apples, my family is happy and no longer hungry, and isn't that what dark matter is all about? The things that matter.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

I'm happy to talk about this more, but I'm afraid I don't understand your analogy. I'm sorry! If you'd like to rephrase it, I'll make myself available to respond. 🙂