Connecting the dots is never easy.

Man was given dominion over all the earth and right soon he started coveting the heavens above, even after learning that his planet wasn’t nearly as small and flat as Biblically purported. More recently, those adventuring the realm of nuclear physics considered the collateral possibility of triggering a particle accelerated cosmic holocaust, yet opted to risk its improbability. Religion and science apparently can come together in sometimes sharing a wholly misguided certainty of faith.

We long to investigate the universe even though given an entirely beautiful planet that’s never been fully explored. There is much right here in America that no one has set foot upon. For some, “To go where no man has gone before” really means to go where it wasn’t capable before. What is it that we wish to bring to existence outside our vastly ill treated and largely uncomprehended known existence? Or, is it more about the potential for even greater exploitation, seeking what can be taken?

What is the difference between exploring another planet and irreparably contaminating it? We may eventually find out if we can ever refinance that once popular American indulgence. We were to lead the world in a manned exploration of space, like Amerigo Vespucci or Chris Columbus, willing to go whatever distance to discover something different than our back-home inability to get what we already know correct.

Imagine. We’ve managed to introduce golf to the moon, and then here we are today unable to pave our earthbound highways and struggling for passenger rail’s resurgence. NASA limps onward and upward as we turn every stone on earth over in furthering similarly unsustainable practices.

Well meaning astronauts should thank heaven that really significant space exploration will likely never renew takeoff. So far, no harm no foul. Do we really want or need to overcome all obstacles to establish a galaxy-wide franchise of our special-species hubris?

JFK promised that we would put a man on the moon and we made good on that after Russia’s early dominance in space. The race was on for another measure of American superiority. That the world at large had sufficient other needs to preclude any significant involvement didn’t deter our objective to be first despite any real competition.

The possible harm of such exploration, like America’s “discovery” itself, is later justified as an unavoidable risk, avoiding all responsibility for what is inherently avoidable.

Now we have discovered Ebola. What a discovery that turns out to be. Here is an all too real alien life form that posed no problem until man’s domain met its, until mankind intruded too far into unconquered terrain and, unexpectedly infected, introduced it to an even larger unsuspecting populace – a viral genie released by civilization’s ill considered advance, its spread aided and abetted by our technologically advanced interconnection.

The ideologues of science and technology remain undaunted by all such concerns. Their objectives need only redefinition of preparation against such setbacks. Meanwhile, the media and politics continually exploit all fears, spreading them faster than any actual threat. Luckily, Ebola itself is very difficult to spread, though not as difficult as needing NASA’s assistance, but certainly way more difficult than so many contagious diseases proliferated by colonialism of the past.

“Curiosity killed the cat.” That’s an old expression meaning some places one simply shouldn’t go. With Ebola, a dangerous interface breach between man and the unknown was fostered by unrestrained human exploitation of an ever disappearing pristine habitat.

Maybe we would be far better off if we stopped trespassing on what remains of an earth unexplored and indeed direct our human-centric appetites off-planet. Just, don’t return.

Ebola has no ambitious travel plans.

Then again, Ebola could have been a beneficial discovery, its having escaped earlier attention being to man’s detriment. The unknown is simply the unknown. Then too, maybe study of Ebola’s detrimental to-man life-form will bring a breakthrough in solving other medical riddles.

What we will never know is how many beneficial discoveries are lost with each callous environmental encroachment that disregards careful consideration of what remains of our earth’s less obvious resources. That’s the real danger.

We’ve had a long history of unthoughtful exploration. Other life forms have always been conquerable. So far.

If God, or anything, intended for us to travel beyond earth, the prerequisite of oxygen in sustaining human life might indicate otherwise. But, seemingly, no red flag there. Science isn’t purposely imprudent. Its explorations have brought us far with mostly sound intentions. The trouble is science teamed with economics. Then, economics often takes dominion over science and man’s stewardship of his surroundings goes awry in deference to technology.

Nature, undisturbed, connected all the essential dots quite adequately for quite a long time before man decided to alter long standing boundaries of accommodation.

The world’s resources are rapidly diminishing. Even with warfare’s unending assistance in limiting population growth, sustainability seems an unsolvable problem.

Our survival, however, will be even more challenged if we continue, oblivious and misguided, to blunder heedlessly into other Ebola-like jeopardies.

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Gary Anderson lives in Bath.