I think humans get to trapped in their own minds when it comes to this issue, as with everything else. We tend to think we know more than we actually do, then comes the person who thinks outside the box. Hopefully if spaceX Starship works, and getting payloads to orbit/space wont be a monetary issue, we will finally start learning about the big picture. It makes sense that we know so little, as its usually the ideas of the conformed who has access atm, and they arent the ones that make possible the giant leaps.