An Attractive Proposition -

Painius wrote, replying to one of his respondants,

Gravitational lensing, as proposed
originally by GR, and was found later to
be real (the lensing effect itself), was the very first cause of
cosmology's proposal
that there must be a mysterious "dark
matter" that promotes the lensing effect.

Actually the observed lensing was found to be *in excess* of what was
predicted. More lensing was present than observable mass could account
for, thus "dark matter" was invented to explain the excess lensing.

Of course, dark matter has been blamed
for other stuff since then, and in fact
seems to be drawn like a gun almost
everytime something is "otherwise
inexplicable", such as the spiral galaxy
rotation curve. Spatial energy is, in
effect, the mysterious dark matter...

Indeed. Co-entrainment of matter and space rotating together is the
PRIMARY factor in the non-Keplerian rotation curves of galaxies. Space
itself *is* the enigmatic "dark matter".

Y'know Paine, it's your prerrogative to spin your
wheels endlessly with these jokers. But it would be far more productive
to just draw the line in the sand and _demand_ that before dialog can
continue, that they address cogently the SHQ 'Litmus Test' of any viable
theory of gravitation. Demand to know how their worldview explains the
mechanism that powers super/ hypernovae and quasars. Thus far, the only
explanation that "steps up to the plate" with an answer is a
universe-filling, fluidic Plenum under a state of pressurization that
exceeds degeneracy pressure of the atomic nucleus. If there is a better
answer to the SHQ 'Litmus Test', by all means let's hear it. The floor
is open____________ .