Ufology and Conservatism.... my apologies...

[Trajanus]

It makes sense to expect various levels of development out there...

Various ages, certainly. Much depends, however, on the level of interaction between ET races, which is probably great. Here on Earth, primitive societies exposed to advanced ones have in cases leapfrogged decades or centuries of progress. Far behind Britain in the 19th century, the Japanese in '41 had caught up to the point where they could win sea battles against their old mentor.

with a proper scientific mindset relatively free of religious taint

Yep, relatively free. Taint--good way to put it.

 

[Ezechiel]

Various ages, certainly. Much depends, however, on the level of interaction between ET races, which is probably great. Here on Earth, primitive societies exposed to advanced ones have in cases leapfrogged decades or centuries of progress. Far behind Britain in the 19th century, the Japanese in '41 had caught up to the point where they could win sea battles against their old mentor.

Japanese are masters of reverse-engineering and improving on original design. (ex:Electronics, automotive industry..)

Same dynamics could potentially exist at solar-system/galactic sector levels .... given the proper context. (as in: proximity of life-giving planets of similar age)

Remember the big warehouse in the first Indiana Jones movie As human monkeys evolve, they can open new crates