THE PARADIGM ALWAYS SHIFTS:

There is a great paradox haunting cosmology.

The science relies on a theoretical framework that struggles to fit and make sense of the observations we have but is so entrenched that very few cosmologists want to seriously reconsider it.

When faced with discrepancies between theory and observation, cosmologists habitually react by adjusting or adding parameters to fit observations, propose additional hypotheses, or even propose "new physics" and ad hoc solutions that preserve the core assumptions of the existing model.

Today, there is increasing critical attention on some problematic parts of the Standard Model of Cosmology. Dark matter, dark energy and inflation theory are parts of the standard theoretical framework that remain empirically unverified - and where new observations prompt ever more questions.

However, little questioning is heard of the many unverifiable core assumptions that make up our model of the universe.

Before any physics or mathematics is involved, the framework is based on a series of logical inference leaps - we count 13 - that works as an invisible premise for the theory. Of these, some are not testable or are barely plausible. But they are necessary as simplifying conditions that enable scientists to articulate a scientifically consistent theory of the universe.

What if any of these hidden inferences happen to be fundamentally wrong?

Tweet   @brothersjudd