INTELLIGENT DUST CLOUDS IN THE COSMOS?

Fred Hoyle's classic science fiction novel "The Black Cloud" is story that is set in the late 1960s and deals with the societal response to the discovery near to our planet of a vast, cloud of gas and dust that seemed to be approaching the Earth.

- BY PROFESSOR CHANDRA WICKRAMASINGHE

The story is based on the idea that such a cloud of cosmic gas and dust, innocuous as it appears, could be endowed with an intrinsic intelligence that might be capable of threatening our existence and even the existence of all life on the Earth.

The narrative starts with a Norwegian astronomer discovering a mysterious dark cloud whilst he was routinely observing the night sky. An alarm is immediately raised and a meeting convened of the world's leading astronomers. The group of international astronomers includes a Hoyle-like figure in the person of one Dr. Christopher Kingsley, at a University - none other than Cambridge! As time proceeds and the cloud continued to approach the Earth, scientists predict many disastrous consequences might ensue.

Among the catalogue of predicted outcomes and disasters is climate change which is of course a major hype in the world today. In an effort to manage a difficult and uncertain situation, Christopher Kingsley sets up a dedicated research centre in the middle of a field, and after intensive studies of the cloud declared to the world that the cloud is sentient and fully aware of understanding and processing human concepts. In fact the cloud might consider humans of the 20th century to be a primitive tribe compared with the huge range of intelligence that must pervade the universe.

A turning point in the story is when the cloud finally establishes contact with Earthbound scientists and begins to reveal its ancient cosmic wisdom. Whilst scientists discuss destructive measures to drive the cloud away, Christopher Kingsley stands out in making the case for cooperation with the cloud, relishing the prospect of learning from it and possibly exchanging knowledge!