It's possible, but I think it's worthwhile to examine the intuitions that so many people have that leads them to dismiss the notion of dark matter, or at least the more "exotic" sounding theories like WIMPs.
We know that every particle we've been able to track down and verify the existence of responds to the gravitational force. We also know that some particles (like neutrinos) have virtually no interaction with anything other than gravitational force, to the point where the vast majority of them will pass through the entire earth undetected and having virtually no effect on anything or anyone.
The notion of particles that are even harder to detect than neutrinos doesn't seem that absurd. It's kind of anthropocentric to assume that most of the mass in the universe is going to be the same kind of mass that we are, or that we are at least capable of easily observing.
And think about what it would imply if there were no dark matter. It would almost imply that, as of the late 20th century, humanity finally had a basic comprehension of all of material existence.
The universe that humanity understood before Copernicus and Galileo is less than 1% of what we can see now. If our math is right and there really is enough dark matter and dark energy to throw off our models, then the universe we can see now is about 5% of everything that exists. That seems pretty plausible for a civilization that can barely get out of its own atmosphere.
We know that every particle we've been able to track down and verify the existence of responds to the gravitational force. We also know that some particles (like neutrinos) have virtually no interaction with anything other than gravitational force, to the point where the vast majority of them will pass through the entire earth undetected and having virtually no effect on anything or anyone.
The notion of particles that are even harder to detect than neutrinos doesn't seem that absurd. It's kind of anthropocentric to assume that most of the mass in the universe is going to be the same kind of mass that we are, or that we are at least capable of easily observing.
And think about what it would imply if there were no dark matter. It would almost imply that, as of the late 20th century, humanity finally had a basic comprehension of all of material existence.
The universe that humanity understood before Copernicus and Galileo is less than 1% of what we can see now. If our math is right and there really is enough dark matter and dark energy to throw off our models, then the universe we can see now is about 5% of everything that exists. That seems pretty plausible for a civilization that can barely get out of its own atmosphere.