Where do you find left-wing STEM news and communities?

May 18, 2022 5:22 PM

Looking for communities (virtual or otherwise) that focus on lefty/radical/anti-authoritarian uses and development of science and technology. Like open-source organizing software, post-capitalist robots, DIY biology - that kind of thing, where the focus is on empowering people rather than making profit.

Interested in forums, mailing lists, chatrooms, zines, video channels, podcasts, (micro-)blogs... anything!
Politically, particularly hoping for things aligned with the libertarian left.

Some examples of what I'm hoping to find:
- many IRL volunteer-run hackerspaces fit the bill
- Taylor Alexander's youtube channel
- "Fully Automated Luxury Gay Space Communism" as a technological goal
- hackaday sometimes has posts that fit, though it's definitely not their focus

posted by woofo to Technology (7 answers total)

Def con and other ethical hacking conferences.

Would general FOSS communities fit the bill?
posted by redlines at 6:01 PM on May 18, 2022

Response by poster: @redlines I would say FOSS communities alone would not fit the bill - they must also be working on the right kind of tech. An open-source web browser or game engine, while very cool, is less what I'm looking for than open-source political tools or farming tech. Technology that, for example, a bunch of anarchists would find useful.

A couple of more examples that slipped my mind:
- Open Source Ecology (the "global village construction set" people)
- Appropedia
- No Tech Magazine
- P2P Foundation (possibly defunct?)
posted by woofo at 7:58 PM on May 18, 2022

Low-Tech Magazine: "This is a solar-powered website, which means it sometimes goes offline."
posted by JonJacky at 9:15 PM on May 18, 2022 [1 favorite]

Have a look at monoskop, it's more at the arts, and humanities, end of the spectrum, I don't belong but suspect there's interesting discussion within.
posted by unearthed at 12:29 AM on May 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

Logic Magazine. (Previously, previously/previously and previously.)
posted by k3ninho at 2:00 AM on May 19, 2022 [2 favorites]

Futel, in case you missed it on the blue right now.
posted by JonJacky at 7:44 AM on May 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

These are more tech than STEM, and they are more academic or journalistic than explicitly lefty or anarchy or trying to build anything, but maybe they'll be of interest:

Data & Society (org, podcast; academically-inclined critical thinking about data and surrounding technology)
New_ Public (org, newsletter, magazine focused on building better public spaces)

LM Sacasas / The Convivial Society (newsletter, philosophy of tech and society)
Peoples & Things (podcast by a science & tech studies professor)
Sentiers (newsletter/blog, mostly aggregator of interesting/critical technology writing)
posted by ropeladder at 5:44 PM on May 19, 2022 [1 favorite]