Pioneer Works

Tonight we'll launch A WORLD APPEARS by
@michaelpollan.bsky.social with a live conversation between Pollan and @jannalevinastro.bsky.social. Tickets are sold out, but paid subscribers can join the livestream on Substack. Subscribe now for access! pioneerworksbroadcast.substack.com/subscribe

We think you’ll love Broadcast—the annual print mag from @pioneerwork.bsky.social—so we’re including a complimentary issue with all Believer subscriptions through the end of the month. See details here: store.mcsweeneys.net/products/the...

The Believer Subscription (includes a complimentary issue of Pioneer Works Broadcast) For the rest of February, subscriptions to The Believer include the latest issue of Broadcast—the annual print publication from our dearly beloveds at Pioneer Works—absolutely free. A thirteen-time N...

It’s the last week to take advantage of our subscription bundle with @pioneerwork.bsky.social! Visit our site for deal details: store.mcsweeneys.net/products/the...

The Believer Subscription (includes a complimentary issue of Pioneer Works Broadcast) For the rest of February, subscriptions to The Believer include the latest issue of Broadcast—the annual print publication from our dearly beloveds at Pioneer Works—absolutely free. A thirteen-time N...

Roses wilt. Great magazines don’t. This February, we’re teaming up with our beloveds at @mcsweeneys.net for a special bundle. Subscribe to @thebeliever.net and get a free issue of Broadcast for one low price. store.mcsweeneys.net/products/the...

Time's Second Arrow | Broadcast Physics teaches that all things tend towards disorder—but what if the universe obeys another pull?

Physics says all things move toward entropy. Yet the cosmos teems with order—life, language, art. In Time’s Second Arrow from @wwnorton.com, Michael Wong (@miquai.bsky.social) & Robert Hazen ask: What if there’s a second arrow of time? pioneerworks.org/broadcast/ti...

Time's Second Arrow | Broadcast Physics teaches that all things tend towards disorder—but what if the universe obeys another pull?

Is death and decay our only option? In Time’s Second Arrow—out now from @wwnorton.com—Michael Wong (@miquai.bsky.social) and Robert Hazen overturn 150 years of established science to propose a new vision of our universe. pioneerworks.org/broadcast/ti...

The genome isn't a blueprint. But what is it?

I originally imagined this as a reported feature on metaphors of the genome, but it ended up being an essay.

And at the end I share the metaphor I personally ended up landing on. If you want to tell me why it is wrong, you'll need to read the story ;)🧪

Myth of the Genetic Blueprint | Broadcast Life isn't constructed along pre-drawn plans. It grows.

“If a single animal can have several different genomes at once, which one is the blueprint? This may not even be the right question to ask...” Intriguing jumping-off point for a superb piece on why our favourite metaphors fail to capture biology; @elisecutts.bsky.social in @pioneerwork.bsky.social
🧪

Through the rest of February, all subscriptions to The Believer include the latest issue of @pioneerwork.bsky.social, featuring Miranda July, Catherine Lacey, Marcus J. Moore, Chris Kraus, and more. Get yours here: store.mcsweeneys.net/products/the...

Renew your commitment to independent literary journalism. This month only, sign up for a year of The Believer and get the latest issue of @pioneerwork.bsky.social Broadcast absolutely free. store.mcsweeneys.net/products/the...

Life isn’t constructed along pre-drawn plans. It grows. For PW Broadcast, @elisecutts.bsky.social writes on the myth of the genetic blueprint. pioneerworks.org/broadcast/ge...

Finally, a relationship that won’t break your heart: This February, we’re teaming up with our beloveds at @thebeliever.net for a special Valentine’s bundle. Get a year of The Believer and a free issue of Broadcast for one low price. store.mcsweeneys.net/products/the...

Myth of the Genetic Blueprint | Broadcast Life isn't constructed along pre-drawn plans. It grows.

“Chop off a Hydra’s head, and you’ll have two new animals instead of one dead one.” @elisecutts.bsky.social on immortal freshwater polyps, and what they reveal about where complexity comes from. pioneerworks.org/broadcast/ge...

Confirming widespread rumors, we’re going public with our Valentine’s dalliance with @pioneerwork.bsky.social—and yes, there’s a lovable bundle involved. Get a year of The Believer plus a free issue of Broadcast for one low price, now through February.

store.mcsweeneys.net/products/the...

Bernie for Burlington: A Vermont Celebration with Dan Chiasson, Jamaica Kincaid, and Bread & Puppet Theater Join Pioneer Works and The New York Review of Books for the official launch of Dan Chiasson’s Bernie for Burlington—an epic account of the early days an...

On 2/19, we’ll be celebrating @dchiasso.bsky.social's urgent new ode to Bernie Sanders, Brooklyn, and Burlington with the help of @nybooks.com, not to mention VT legends Jamaica Kincaid and Bread and Puppet Theater. pioneerworks.org/programs/ber...

Becoming Bernie | Broadcast How a New Deal Brooklyn boyhood, and a certain Manhattan storefront, sent Senator Sanders to the Green Mountains that formed him.

Dan Chiasson (@dchiasso.bsky.social) on the Brooklyn boyhood of @sanders.senate.gov and the Manhattan storefront that first drew him to the Green Mountains. An exclusive excerpt from BERNIE FOR BURLINGTON, out now from @aaknopf.bsky.social. pioneerworks.org/broadcast/da...

YouTube video by Pioneer Works Julian Brave NoiseCat and Sky Hopinka on We Survived the Night

Julian Brave NoiseCat and Sky Hopinka on coyote legends, family memories, and the history that unites them: “I was always interested in trying to figure out the broader story of native people as I tried to figure myself out, and vice versa.” @aaknopf.bsky.social youtu.be/Ymk1J3-TlpU

What day isn’t a headlock? In celebration of the U.S. release of
POOR by Caleb Femi, PW Broadcast is proud to share some poems from the book. @fsgbooks.bsky.social pioneerworks.org/broadcast/po...

Michael Pollan: A World Appears Join Pioneer Works and Greenlight Bookstore for the official launch of Michael Pollan’s A World Appears—a panoptic exploration of consciousness from the...

What is consciousness, who has it, and why? Join us and @greenlightbklyn.bsky.social for the launch of @michaelpollan.bsky.social's A WORLD APPEARS on February 24—featuring a conversation with Pollan and @jannalevinastro.bsky.social on nature’s greatest mysteries. pioneerworks.org/programs/mic...

What Day Isn’t a Headlock? | Broadcast Poems from Caleb Femi's debut collection.

Some poems on lost friends, trap legends, and Peckham boyhood from Caleb Femi's POOR, out now in the U.S. thanks to @fsgbooks.bsky.social. pioneerworks.org/broadcast/po...

Baby-Making on Mars | Broadcast In the depths of the Cold War, scientists from the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. joined forces to answer a still-urgent question: Can mammals reproduce in space?

"We have already ceded our rockets and space stations to men with messiah complexes—and our wombs may be next."

Darshana Narayanan for @pioneerwork.bsky.social: pioneerworks.org/broadcast/ba...

Humanity has entered a new era of space exploration. This time, we don’t just want to visit, we want to stay. In Broadcast’s latest print issue, Darshana Narayanan confronts the future of our species—and how off-Earth conditions would reshape evolution itself. pioneerworks.org/broadcast/ba...

Baby-Making on Mars | Broadcast In the depths of the Cold War, scientists from the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. joined forces to answer a still-urgent question: Can mammals reproduce in space?

Elon Musk dreams of Mars. Jeff Bezos imagines space-station cities. But before we colonize the great beyond, we need to ask: Can pregnancies even develop without Earth’s gravity? And if so, how might those unique conditions change us? pioneerworks.org/broadcast/ba...

Do only the dead know Brooklyn? Broadcast co-editor-in-chief Joshua Jelly-Schapiro writes on the ghosts of Pioneer Works past, and the cosmic, Caribbean history of Red Hook. pioneerworks.org/broadcast/on...

A Lily Pad on the Muck | Broadcast The historic denizens of Red Hook, Brooklyn, have included mobsters, smugglers, and others good at keeping secrets. But the ghosts of Pioneer Iron Works have stories to tell, if you know where to dig.

The historic denizens of Red Hook, Brooklyn, have included mobsters, smugglers, and others good at keeping secrets. But the ghosts of Pioneer Works have stories to tell, if you know where to dig. pioneerworks.org/broadcast/on...

"The freeways of Los Angeles lace the city together, and driving over (and under) some of the giant interchanges can feel almost like a divine hallucination. The engineering is so extreme that the typical response is one of marvel: How the fuck could anyone build anything so absurd?"

Best of Broadcast 2025 | Broadcast Our favorite pieces of the year.

From menopause as modern epic to hot flashes of summer rage, reality’s secret matrix, death poems from Eileen Myles, and @garthgreenwell.bsky.social's Kentucky boyhood—read our favorite pieces of the year now. pioneerworks.org/broadcast/be...

Playing God | Broadcast Interactive cinema isn't a game.

Writing this piece was a crash course in the history and promise of FMV games, and really informed my approach to writing @blippo.plus. It’s online here, if that interests you:

pioneerworks.org/broadcast/in...

My @pioneerwork.bsky.social piece on the history of interactive cinema gets the full print treatment in this glorious third issue of Broadcast, which is consistently an all-killer, no filler publication!

YouTube video by Pioneer Works Do LLMs Understand? AI Pioneer Yann LeCun Spars with DeepMind’s Adam Brown.

Do LLMs really understand? To cut through the noise around AI, we brought in two experts shaping the field: @yann-lecun.bsky.social and Adam Brown. Watch them in conversation with @jannalevinastro.bsky.social about the true intelligence of artificial minds. youtu.be/ykfQD1_WPBQ?...