Thought experiment about an extraterrestrial observer of Earth
AMartian scientist orMartian researcher is a hypotheticalMartian frequently used inthought experiments as an outside observer of conditions onEarth. The most common variety is theMartiananthropologist, but Martians researching subjects such asphilosophy,linguistics andbiology have also been invoked.
The following extract from an essay byRichard Dawkins is more or less typical.
A Martiantaxonomist who didn't know that all humanraces happily interbreed with one another, and didn't know that most of the underlyinggenetic variance in ourspecies is shared by all races might be tempted by our regional differences in skin colour, facial features, hair, body size and proportions to split us into more than one species.[1]
The descriptive analyst must be guided by certain very fixedprinciples if he is to beobjective in describing accurately anylanguage or part of any language. It would be excellent if he could adopt a completely man-from-Mars attitude toward any language he analyzes and describes.[2]
The hypothetical Martian anthropologist is described in the writings ofNoam Chomsky as one who, upon studying the world's languages, would conclude that they are all dialects of a single language embodying a "universal grammar" reflecting a hardwired, genetically determined linguistic module inherent in the human brain.
Inphilosophy, especiallyphilosophy of language andphilosophy of mind, the Martian is often invoked as an example of an intelligent being with a cognitive apparatus that differs from that of humans, e.g. the following example given bySaul Kripke:
I will not here argue that simplicity is relative, or that it is hard to define, or that a Martian might find the quus function simpler than the plus function.[3]
In a commonrhetorical turn, invoking the Martian scientist forces the reader to observe an obvious state of affairs that is ordinarily overlooked:
If a Martian graced our planet, it would be struck by one remarkable similarity among Earth's living creatures and a key difference.[4]
