The whole thing is a masterpiece of bizarre statements dressed up as reasoning
Take:
Second, between (Ca) spontaneous decentralized hoaxes and lies, and (Cb) hoaxes and lies coordinated by a big central organization, (Cb) seems much more likely.
Apply this to reports of something other than UFOs, like, say fairies, ghosts or angels. You don't need to be an Oxford research associate writing about overcoming bias to realise the most common explanation for the phenomena is clearly (Cc) other such reports are already circulating in the public consciousness, and people are very impressed by them.
Neither spontaneity nor coordination is required to explain a sharp rise in sightings of saucer-shaped starships and little grey aliens after ships which flew like saucers and little grey aliens hogged the media for a decade, just like there isn't any conspiracy required to explain why people were a lot more likely to interact with spirits than be probed by 'greys' a few centuries back. (The great thing about "popular consciousness" explanations is they intersect with honest mistakes and delusions as well as big fat lies)
If Nick's desire for stuff that's in the movies to be real is so obvious he neglects the existence of the actual movies in his reasoning, he should probably consider renaming his blog
Take: Second, between (Ca) spontaneous decentralized hoaxes and lies, and (Cb) hoaxes and lies coordinated by a big central organization, (Cb) seems much more likely.
Apply this to reports of something other than UFOs, like, say fairies, ghosts or angels. You don't need to be an Oxford research associate writing about overcoming bias to realise the most common explanation for the phenomena is clearly (Cc) other such reports are already circulating in the public consciousness, and people are very impressed by them.
Neither spontaneity nor coordination is required to explain a sharp rise in sightings of saucer-shaped starships and little grey aliens after ships which flew like saucers and little grey aliens hogged the media for a decade, just like there isn't any conspiracy required to explain why people were a lot more likely to interact with spirits than be probed by 'greys' a few centuries back. (The great thing about "popular consciousness" explanations is they intersect with honest mistakes and delusions as well as big fat lies)
If Nick's desire for stuff that's in the movies to be real is so obvious he neglects the existence of the actual movies in his reasoning, he should probably consider renaming his blog