Introducing Pioneers, our new podcast
Long-form conversations with the people pushing on today’s frontiers in science, technology, history, and theology, and what drives them. The first two episodes are out now.
The Mormon Transhumanist Association has launched a new podcast. It is called Pioneers, and its first two episodes are out today.
Where is our frontier?
Our pioneer ancestors crossed a geographic frontier. Ours are scientific, technological, and philosophical, and they are arriving quickly. Pioneers is a series of long-form conversations with the people working on them: scientists, engineers, historians, theologians, philosophers, and entrepreneurs.
We want to know what they are building, and even more, what drives them. What sparked their curiosity? What convictions guide their work? How do they hold ambition and responsibility together? The how of a breakthrough fits in a paper. The why fits only in a life, and the life is what we are after.
The first two episodes
Introducing Pioneers (12 minutes). Host Carl Youngblood, president of the Association, opens the show with the question behind it. Drawing on William James, Joseph Smith, and the pioneers themselves, he makes the case that the human need to struggle for something greater than comfort has not gone anywhere, and that it deserves worthy objects.
Richard Bushman (84 minutes). Lincoln Cannon, co-founder of the Association, sits down with the historian who wrote Rough Stone Rolling, the landmark biography of Joseph Smith. Bushman is ninety-five. Lincoln puts the modern world to him one piece at a time (evolution, CRISPR, artificial intelligence, the simulation hypothesis) and asks what Joseph would have made of it. Then the historian starts asking the questions. Along the way he sums up the gospel in a single word.
Where to listen
Every episode lives on the Pioneers page, with video and a full transcript. You can also subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube, or add the RSS feed to any podcast app. New episodes arrive weekly.
If you know someone pushing on a frontier who belongs on the show, we would love an introduction.
The frontier is open. Come meet the people exploring it.