Has anyone else read Fred Hoyle's novel, 'The Black Cloud' (1957)? His fictional 'cloud' character could yet turn out to be real.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Cloud - This entry was modified on 16 Aug 2007, and includes a paragraph 'Possible Appearance in Reality' with the following link:
http://www.iop.org/EJ/article/1367-2630/9/8/263/njp7_8_263.html - which goes to the actual New Journal of Physics article referred to on the SAGG site (Kate's post, top).
These scientists are serious about the possibility of something close to Hoyle's 'Black Cloud', to the extent that they advocate expanding SETI accordingly:
"These structures can have all necessary features to form `inorganic life'. This should be taken into account for formulation of a new SETI-like program based not only on astrophysical observations but also on planned new laboratory experiments, including those on the ISS. In the case of the success of such a program one should be faced with the possibility of resolving the low rate of evolution of organic life by investigating the possibility that the inorganic life `invents' the organic life"
