Via Virtual Economies.
UFO sightings have fallen dramatically in the last decade.
Why? Because of ubiquitous camera phones.
The claim that someone had seen a UFO was
always, if ludicrous, unfalsifiable. Now the claim requires the
additional
layer of absurdity that the observer neglected or failed to record the
event on the camera that everyone always carries everywhere. Everyone
always carrying a camera everywhere makes it a lot harder to lie about
what you’ve seen.
Which shows, amongst other things, that sunlight is still the best disinfectant. And that the next century is going to have a lot fewer saints than the last if the three miracles requirement for canonisation isn’t significantly relaxed.
Interesting hypothesis. I’d be curious if Bigfoot, Lockness and ghost sightings have also dropped?
Well — if we aren’t using cell phones to take pictures of our alien overlords, what are we documenting with cell phones?
Police brutality?
Live concerts?
Disasters?
Fights?
I’d be curious — outside of the tradtional use (asking friends to smile for the camerea) — what are the main citizen journalism uses for cell phones?
Hi Dave,
I like the flying hat photo. 🙂
Actually, UFO sightings may be as common today, or more common, than in the past. These things tend to go in waves. See the links below. If your interest is piqued, I can supply more leads. As a good journalist, it pays to be informed about your subject.
http://www.ufoevidence.org/
http://www.nuforc.org/
http://www.ufomaps.com/