If the events happen mainly at altitudes, smartphones have a hard time capturing them. There’s also the argument that since these would be super-intelligent beings, they might aim for a level of exposure that they’re confident won’t make the grand public believe in their existence.
>There’s also the argument that since these would be super-intelligent beings, they might aim for a level of exposure that they’re confident won’t make the grand public believe in their existence.
The public by and large, more or less, already believes in their existence. There are actual religions built around aliens, this has been been a part of pop culture since the 1940s. If they're trying to obey something like the Prime Directive and prevent cultural contamination then they seem to be doing a terrible job. Picard would be ashamed.
Imagine you're a strong military and you have a potential adversary. You want to control what force capabilities you advertise. Maybe you test an anti-satellite rocket, maybe you decide to not shoot down a spy balloon, etc.
Now imagine you're a galactic force where the minimum ante for any extra-societal interaction is the highest existential stakes possible. You're going to be very careful and methodical with your force projection.
I'm not saying that's what's going on here, but there are many different plausible explanations for behavior that seems strange, unlikely, or convenient at first blush.
