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There is always something more than meets the eye. A hypothesis may not always give the desired results. In fact sometimes they can be quite further from the reality. This has been proved in the story, “Talking of space: Report on planet 3” by Arthur C. Clarke. Here, the author has created a fictitious Martian civilization which had made a report on the planet Earth. They observe Earth with various instruments and then come up with several conjectures. All their assumptions prove to be totally true but their implications turn out to be exactly opposite of what happens on Earth.
This is the result of their superficial estimations made by Just observing certain changes happening on the planet. They fail to give the exact information on the third planet. Hence, it can be said that it is impossible to conceive of the unknown based on what we know. This particular chapter deals with only the scientific know-how of a planet, based on which they give cursory details of the other planet. But the statement holds true for various aspects of our lives as well. Our knowledge might come from rumors and would have no practical base. This would make it one-dimensional.
Relating it to the story, the Martian civilization had no proofs that could back up their assumptions and hence they unknowingly went astray. To give a few examples, the Martians were correct in their speculations about the presence of Oxygen on Earth, but they called it a poisonous gas which would make it impossible for any creature to survive. While it is actually Oxygen by which we survive. Next, they were again correct about Earth having a high gravity but their belief that no large form of life could survive on Earth due to that, was totally wrong. The Martians thrived on the ultraviolet radiation.
Therefore, when they discovered that we have an Ozone layer which protects us from these rays, they assumed that no creature would be able to live without it. They based their assumption upon the conditions in which they lived, so of course they were bound to go amiss. Another conjecture made by them was regarding fire. They concluded that fire would be quite frequent on Earth and that no living being could survive because of it. Similarly they made conjectures about the life forms on Earth. According to the Martians, due to high gravity on Earth, it was quite improbable for the aerial animals to exist there.
But they were quite sure that under water life forms would be existing since their own life forms commenced beneath the water. But again they considered the fact that our moon would produce tidal force and that would interchange land and seas. Hence, even that assumption was ruled out. This is how they go on making several hypothesis based on the knowledge that they have, without broader understanding or knowledge. Therefore, to keep on imagining about a particular situation, person or even a planet without a deeper understanding and still coming up with correct results is quite impossible. Talking of space By Janis