[lisper]

> Dark matter seems quite solid.

So to speak :-)

>But then dark energy does feel like a hack, right? Throwing the whole “dark thing” concept under the bus.

Yes, dark energy really is nothing more than a mathematical hack (at least for now). There's a reason that a certain personality type chooses to go into physics and not marketing, with the result being that the market for physics often leaves something to be desired.