US utility patents grantedFireball meteor sightings reported
American patents granted and fireball meteor sightings reported, climbing together for nearly two decades. The patent office and the night sky are not, technically, on the same conference call. The graph proceeds anyway.
US utility patents grew from about 165,000 in 2005 to over 350,000 by 2022 as software, biotech, and Chinese-applicant filings expanded. Fireball reports grew at a similar pace, but for an observational reason: the American Meteor Society's online reporting tool, smartphones, and dashcams turned every commute into a potential witness. The actual rate of fireballs entering Earth's atmosphere did not change; the rate of someone seeing one and writing it down did. The decade got more inventive and more observant in unrelated ways.
More patents, more witnesses, neither caused by the other. The decade was busy with paperwork of all kinds.
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Want to learn more about why correlations like “US utility patents granted” vs “Fireball meteor sightings reported” don't prove causation? Read our guide to statistical thinking.
