Didn't Asimov write about half the moon being dark? TIL the "far side of the moon" is actually referred to as "the dark side of the moon". But yeah, it's funny/sad that nobody in the room seems to know anything.
During a solar eclipse, the far side is brightly lit, while the side turned towards us is dark.
Most of the time the dark side does not match the far or the near side, we see a part of both the dark and lit sides as a crescent.
I don't see how "the far side" and "the dark side" can be used interchangeably in any situation.
I always thought the dark side of the moon meant from earths’ view: we can see the light side (even when it’s dark) but we can’t see the dark side (even when it’s light)
The point is that the lit part of the Moon moves widely, while the far / near sides don't due to the tidal lock. Hence they can't be used interchangeably.