Recently, we have come across a new most interesting theory that does away with dark matter and dark energy and replaces them both with wobbly spacetime. We realize the enormity of this conjecture when we consider, as we have stated in some of our past articles, that these two dark concepts (matter and energy) have never been observed directly and according to estimates constitute 94 to 95% of the energy-matter in the universe. At this stage, it is appropriate to provide a quick recap of the dark matter and energy conjectures before we engage in our postulate.
Dark matter has been injected into the standard model to explain the rotation of stars in the peripheral of the galaxies which cannot be explained by the existence of the estimated size of the observable matter (constituting only 5% of the energy-mass content of our galaxy - Milky Way). Dark energy, on the other hand, has been added to the model to explain the continued and accelerating rate of expansion of the universe. According to scientists, dark matter is about 25-27% of the energy-matter in the universe and dark energy 68%, with the two concepts summing up to 94-95% of all forces and matter in our universe. So we are pretty much ignorant about 94-95% of what is in the universe. Very depressing.
This is where a radical new theory of gravity claiming spacetime to be ‘wobbly’ makes its entry. To paraphrase an article on the subject1, by claiming that the observations can be explained by a randomness in the rate at which time flows and fluctuates like a burbling stream, the theory does away with the need for dark matter and dark energy.
We will not expand further on this controversial theory which you could read about by looking at the reference below, but suffice to say that the wobbly spacetime is a new challenger for the magical-mystery theory to marry happily-ever-after Einstein’s General Relativity (GR) with Quantum Mechanics (QM).
These two are pillars of modern physics in their own rights, but they have been at odds with each other. Basically we are still in search of the solution to reconcile Einstein and his insistance on determinism in the presence of a relative time, with QM’s probabilistic insistence in the presence of an absolute time.
Without going into the details, we note that the wobbly spacetime theory takes the GR determinism, makes time continuous but with ‘wobbles’ that give the same outcome as the probabilistic QM at sub-atomic levels.
As it turns out, this theory also does away with the need for dark matter and dark energy, so we also do away with the 95% darkness, otherwise known as our ignorance, at the cost of continuous stream of wobbles in spacetime. In other words:
Not happy with our limited knowledge of the universe (we know practically nothing about 95% of the unvierse), we have been looking at alternative mathematical models to do away with it (such as String Theory). In the case of wobbly spacetime theory, we replaced that ignorance (Darkness) with uncertainty/randomness (wiggles in spacetime).
This new theory may also qualify as a potential pataphysics precursor, but that exposé is for a future session.
This new theory may also qualify as a potential pataphysics precursor, but that exposé is for a future session.
1 Wobbly spacetime is latest stab at unifying physics, by Lindsay Clark, theregister.com, Dec 6, 2023,
February 21, 2025, Cambridge,
Berta Seintan, PhD & Charlene Wardin, PhD