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ThePrevailer t1_j6x0hif wrote

What makes the case for dark matter more valid than "something must be wrong with the calculations/measurements" or indicative that there are laws/interactions we haven't figured out yet?

Since it can't be measured in anyway other than otherwise unexplained phenomena, it feels like, "We can't explain what's happening, therefor there must be dark matter,"

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Weed_O_Whirler t1_j6xzw4e wrote

Dark matter was originally theorized to explain discrepancies between scientific predictions and measurements. But it turns out, it has predictive power. When we estimate the amount of dark matter we think there must be in the universe, it actually explains the relative amounts of Hydrogen and Helium we see in the universe now.

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nivlark t1_j787ld9 wrote

The same amount of dark matter, with the same basic properties, can explain galaxy rotation curves, galaxy cluster dynamics, large scale structure, the CMB anisotropies, and the primordial abundances of chemical elements.

"Something is wrong with the measurements" has none of that predictive power, and even more quantitative ways of stating that (e.g. modified Newtonian dynamics) cannot explain the data as well as dark matter does.

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