Or just more focused and civilized. Imagine if 10,000 years ago the great Chinese, Arabic, Greek and European libraries were destroyed by war. And imagine if for ten thousand years religion didn't fight science and because corporations don't see the profit in going to the moon. That would mean government funding.Any alien species, assuming they exist, that are capable of interstellar or intergalactic travel would certainly be far more advanced than we are.
Anyways, we could be so much further if we weren't so uncivilized. We aren't that great to be honest. Still a very young primitive warring superstitious species