Kind of ironic how the title of a recent now closed thread is the 'Demise of ATM discussion' when as of this writing 147 folks are posting or at least viewing the ATM section, and the number of people viewing and/or posting in the ATM section is consistently on par with or greater than the other sections in this forum. Thus, "demise" is surely the wrong word to describe the current state of affairs. "Disorganized" or "fragmented" are probably better descriptors here. Essentially, the current cosmological model relies on the assumption that Einstein's theory of GR (General Relativity) is a correct description of gravitation in our Universe. Most ATM cosmologies, including Jerry's, attack this central notion.
I think we can all agree that, going back decades, there's been no shortage of vibrant ATM discussions trying to show that GR is not actually correct. These ATM theorists have ranged from the "Einstein got it all wrong type" to "Einstein is right about much, but we may be placing too much faith in the extent to which it can be used type." For example, even David Spergel, a member of the WMAP team, came out with a paper in which he discusses the idea that there may be no dark energy and really what we think is a new form of energy may merely be a breakdown of GR on large scales. And, unlike ATM theorists such as Jerry, who spend most their time criticizing and bashing, Spergel actually proposes a way to test this new idea. To believe that your ideas, Jerry, will just be forever (even if you eventually present them in a manner not unlike a PHD thesis) dismissed is to essentially suggest that you have a monopoly on the scientific method and, miraculously, everybody else lacks your degree of objectivity, clarity, and mental acuity. Is this likely, are you really that special? Kind of anti-Copernican if you ask me. Again, there seems to be no end to the grandiosity and delusions of persecution....
Here is some advice based on an analogy with the current New Left protest movement. Many of the recent left-wing protests have been scattered in terms of their organization with many different groups each criticizing a different aspect of the establishment-- some anti-war, others anti-animal exploitation, others expressing dismay over the genuine inaction in the face of potentially catastrophic global environmental decline. But, unfortunately, the lack of a unifying theme and a planned alternative to the establishment makes these groups easier to ignore, easier to marginalize, easier to deride as bunch of young nuts, etc. What they need to do, some argue, is to come together and protest/replace the central tenet of modern post-industrial civilization--that is, replace endless growth and consumption with efficiency, mutual aid, conservation, and perhaps most importantly, anti-power and wealth concentration in the hands of the few. Now, similarly, if ATMers unified and consolidated their efforts in order to demonstrate conclusively that General Relativity is seriously flawed, then by implication, the current cosmological model would fall as well. However, as I've stressed before to Jerry, this overhaul will require a lot more than just concocting a slew of "frustration posts" on this forum. For better or worse, internet forums and online dating, although becoming more acceptable, are still not taken seriously and are looked down upon by many in our society—somewhat analogous to the "free trade" protestor with dreadlocks and Che T-shirt being made fun of by a smug CNN reporter. So, the overhaul will require rigorous deductive mathematical reasoning, detailed technical proposals for new hitherto unknown experiments, and ideas on how existing or planned experiments might be able to test these ideas, and so on.






