I am going to go with the idea (until shown otherwise) that we have gone into the Traveler. I think this is how the learning about and gaining some of its powers thing has worked. I am assuming that the Travelers tech is simply so far beyond us that we can only manage very small inroads into using some of that power to benefit ourselves. We probably have the "best and brightest" working on unlocking some more of the Travelers secrets but I would guess that progress is slow because they must be careful to not damage anything or inadvertently cause a disaster. On top of that if the tech really is that advanced then the pace would be slowed to an incremental crawl. Think of it this way. Take your smartphone back in time 100 years. Now imagine how long it would take humans back then to figure out its function and operation. Remember, they have to do this with no idea of what it is and no basis for figuring that out. Also keep in mind that they do not have access to the networks that this device relies upon in order to function fully. Now to recreate this technology (make it useful for the masses) they would need to build the manufacturing capability from scratch. Hell worse than that they would have to learn the science and math from scratch. Even then they would have to work hard to build the machines that are capable of building the machines that can make this particular device. We didn't just come up with the smartphone overnight, it took a long time to get that level of tech. I believe we have a similar problem with the traveler. We might be working feverishly to understand it but we are coming from a place that is so far behind that level of technology we just have no basis for comparison. We have to learn and then build it all from scratch, while doing nothing that risks damaging the one thing that is keeping us all safe. Well that is my basic idea about it all, I may be wrong but for now it makes sense.