[pjd]

“If they are that advanced, we would be to them what chimps armed with guns would be to us.”

This is not necessarily true. Often, great advances in physics or technology are stumbled upon during the course of some other research.

I’m not saying this is what happened, but it is entirely *possible* that aliens may have a state of technology very similar to our own but just happened to stumble upon a practical near-light or faster-than-light means of travel. Yet, in other technologies they may even be behind us.

[Oatka]

I’m not saying this is what happened, but it is entirely *possible* that aliens may have a state of technology very similar to our own but just happened to stumble upon a practical near-light or faster-than-light means of travel.
That's why I roll my eyes at the "it's impossible because of the distance" arguments. If you had brought up the idea of radio, TV, electricity, or steam engines, just to name a few, in the Middle Ages, you would have been burned at the stake. It's the old human hubris that "If we haven't invented it yet, it can't be done."

Advances in technology comes in leaps and bounds. Look at the Wright Brothers. They flew the first successful flight in 1903, and only 66 years later we were landing on the moon. (I was just a kid in 1946 and vividly remember the Daily News headlining "RADAR BOUNCED OFF THE MOON!" Everyone was astonished. Twenty-two years later we landed there).

Who know if/when one of our scientists has an O Sh!t moment and discovers a new way to travel in space?

Yet, in other technologies they may even be behind us.
There was a neat Sci-Fi story about aliens landing on earth and we found out they were dumber than Hell, with their only advancement being in space travel. Wouldn't that be a hoot!