The Current What drives people to pursue impossible goals
Mar 13, 2026
Mark Medley, Globe and Mail journalist and author of Live to See the Day, profiles people devoted to long-shot quests. He explores why people commit to cathedral-scale projects and what sustains them. Topics include space searches like SETI, the Future Library, patience and joy in long pursuits, and the humility of caretakers passing work to future generations.
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Lifetime Candidate Who Keeps Running
- Mark Medley followed Liz White, leader of the Animal Protection Party of Canada, who repeatedly ran federal campaigns despite knowing she'd never win significant office.
- He trailed her campaign in 2008, watched door-knocking and debates, and observed she continued running for decades while earning only dozens to a few hundred votes.
Tucson Convention Of Star Dreamers
- Medley visited a Tucson interstellar convention where scientists openly acknowledged they likely wouldn't see star travel in their lifetimes.
- He contrasted fully impossible goals with those that will happen someday but not within current lifespans.
Impossible Quests Are Cathedral Building
- Many impossible quests are like building cathedrals: people lay foundations they won't personally see completed.
- Interviewees used the analogy repeatedly, framing their work as planting trees whose shade they'll never sit under.
