Isn t the significance of the date obvious The fact is that Singer seriously considered Martians in 1960 We report this as an interesting fact Solomon misrepresents this as if we claimed that Singer considers Martians today That is the straw man He then goes on and demolishes it which is the normal purpose of a straw man Note that he carefully has not asked Singer if he seriously considered Martians in 1960 as that would possibly not support his deception