SURFING THE CUSP OF THE SHIFT:

The time has come for a new Newton, to reunite the physics of the extraterrestrial with the physics of the terrestrial. Such an integration might facilitate our understanding of dark matter and dark energy, enabling a better understanding of who we are and of the cosmos in which we live.

Just as the discoveries of dark matter and dark energy shook the foundations of physics, our continued inability to unearth the identity and nature of most of the universe continues to shake them, and, consequently, it limits our understanding of our place in the universe. We still do not know much about the dark sector except that it exists; yet researchers often ascribe properties to dark matter based on presumptions that mimic known physics and are not intrepid enough. It seems to me that methodologies that might enable us to ask new questions, and find new properties or new roles for the dark in our universe, generate fear. Do we dread the dark so much that we project our fears onto the very phenomena about which we are scientifically ignorant?

Dark matter and dark energy are not the only anomalies our current physics doesn't handle. A handful of other deviations from our accepted theories of physics generate speculations that likewise trouble physics. The resolution of these anomalies may shake the foundation of what we presume to be true.

Such anomalies raise a related set of questions, one more apropos for the social sciences than the natural sciences: How does science respond to ideas that might violate our scientific norms and expectations? Does the scientific community fear embracing "dark" ideas from outsiders, especially if the ideas may not be in a form that the community is comfortable with, if they do not fit seamlessly into our theories and expected practices?

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