Non right-wing tech podcasts?
It feels like every time I find a podcast about security/networking/technology the hosts end up saying some pretty off-color stuff, or I look them up and they also host right wing podcasts. Are there any that are more leftist, hosted by LGBT peeps, or at least not actively bigoted ?
Odd. I have never found a tech podcast that is right wing. All of them i have ever heard are done by lefties
Same, I would actually be curious to listen to a right wing tech podcast as the two concepts clash so hard in my brain.
Not specifically about podcasts, but I think there's a minority (?) of privacy/security enthusiasts who are pretty overtly right-wing libertarians, often because those technologies are anti-establishment. Think Luke Smith. I've also met people in the tech sphere (both on the I love Big Tech as well as FOSS side) who have very traditionalist, borderline right-wing opinions.
There's very much a Peter Thiel-esque type of libertarian tech bro - think the crypto fanatics, the Elon Musk fanboys, etc. Or, tangentially, how New Atheism collapsed in part because some women had the audacity to point out that sexual harassment is a thing. On a similar note, just go onto any online video game and openly announce yourself to be gay or a woman.
Geek culture and its associated cultures have always had an undercurrent of sexism, probably not unrelated to the fact that they're historically dominated by somewhat awkward or lonely men. That feeling of male angst and isolation is absolutely something that the Right has been able to successfully exploit. Take Gamergate, for instance.
I don’t listen to tech podcasts at all, but now that you mention it, the concept seems odd to me, too. Tech involves objective facts, scientific reasoning, and logic, which are three things I definitely don’t associate with modern conservatism.
They're really ideologies orthogonal to each other:
The "right wing tech", in a US-centric definition, would likely fall under "conservative libertarian capitalist technologist", which is a possible combination.
I'm still pretty new into looking, this post was inspired by listening to Self-Hosted and one of the hosts has a "news" podcast and one of the more recent episodes was recommending other creators, which were like Megyn Kelly and right wing people :( There were also a few YouTubers that I tried to get into to learn networking but some of them had rant videos about women and stuff. I maybe could have worded it as also like...not corporate-worshipping codebro type podcasts? If that makes sense. There seems to be a lot of libertarian types in computer networking and I just wanted some recommendations by people who have been listening longer than I have.
When Noah was on some of the Jupiter Broadcasting podcasts, he had a number of right-wing editorialized viewpoints during discussions. Chris didn't seem to bite much on them (at least, at the time), so I'm guessing Chris didn't care for it much (speculating here). I stopped listening simply because of off-handed comments I'd hear Noah make. It didn't happen that often, but it was enough to put me off listening. I honestly suspect Noah is more center than right-wing, but I'd much rather he just kept on topic and checked his political leanings at the door.
Now that it's Chris and other hosts, Linux Action News and Linux Unplugged might be good ones to check out, if you're into Linux.
Yeah I think it was just Noah. Chris hosted a news podcast for a while that treaded into some conspiracy areas, but wasn't right-wing.
Either way I find their current setup pretty good at staying away from politics unless they're directly related to the technology conversation at hand.
Darknet Diaries. It's more of a "stories in the web security space" kind of podcast. But I have not noticed any political leaning in the host so far.
Highly recommend it. I binged all existing episodes last year.
This is my favorite podcast ever. So good.
Start from some more recent episodes like around ep 60 or 70.
The very first ones, like 1 through 10, I think he was still trying to find his groove then.
Yeah, but the earlier episodes also has some good stories, mostly just less production quality
Yep. Darknet Diaries, Cyber, and Malicious Life are all good.
I really enjoy Darknet Diaries. It is unfortunate he went to a once a month release cycle but I understand it is for a better work life cycle.
If you are a fan of Darknet Diaries I would also recommend Hacked. It has two hosts which have a good dynamic. Plus they don't touch politics so it avoids any controversy.
I'll put it in my backlog! Thanks!
The wan show is one
The WAN show is a great option for a one stop shop for broad tech stuff. It is often very long but they add very clear chapters to the youtube video that make it easy to jump to the stuff that interests you. Luke is a software developer/manager so he is fairy knowledgeable in that realm, and Linus is a very transparent CEO of a tech media company, so the coverage is actually very good between the two of them. Just dont expect in depth conversations about RHEL forks and node.js code efficiency and stuff, its very much meant to be consumed by regular tech enthusiasts and not hyper deep code monkeys.
Oo this looks great, thank you!
I love Laporte's personality, although he's not strong technically. I feel like 90% of schtick on TechTV was to act like a confused grandpa while others did the explaining.
But it's a pretty good trick for running a balanced, and not overly technical, video stream.
Thank you for so many suggestions and taking the time to write up descriptions, really appreciate it 😊
I'll second Security Now!
Listened to it for years but kind of lost track when I stopped having to commute. Kind of miss it really but I don't find as much time for podcasts these days sadly.
I 100% recommend TWIT, best tech podcast I listen to.
I usually listed at 1.2x speed with gap skipping on, because they can talk a bit slow.
Really great for weekly overviews of tech news, and excellent guests.
I'll second TWIT too. Have to agree with the other comments, but I still stick with them. I listen on 1.5x which you get used to.
The main dude talks too much. I used to watch them, but stopped because of the main dude.
I occasionally listen to twit and my only major complaints are: 1) Leo interrupts his guests too much, and 2) whenever Amy Web or Owen Stone come on I have to skip the episode...
TrashFuture
Tech Won't Save Us
^^^ both of these are what you're looking for OP
Links for the lazy:
FOSS Pod is also great
Came here to post Tech Won't Save Us.
Oooo thank you !
Everyone loves him but essentially the same reason I can’t watch/listen to Louis Rossmann. I support the right to repair cause but his other views go way off.
Don't know anything about him other than right to repair. What are his other views?
He does a lot of videos shitting on New York and thus has brought in a lot of right-wing people who hate the "liberal elites" who live there. I don't find his views too bad tbh but his comments sections are always a complete shit show. I wouldn't be surprised if he has changed for the worst due to audience capture.
Besides the mentioned hating on NY, during last two elections he supported trump and republicans, bashed democrats and just leaned into that that whole saying something conspiracy related by saying “I dunno” which has been an almost dog whistle of support while trying to act open minded. I don’t believe he’s republican but his move to Texas and being anti government kinda points him in a certain direction.
Obviously that’s all fine of him to have those views. I just don’t like hearing it during a board repair or right to repair video.
I regularly view Rossman content, but I guess I don't really know anything about him politically.
From a quick search, it looks like he's willing to talk about tech issues with just about anyone of whatever leaning (like Sam Seider), but I could just be ignorant on this subject.
Is there a place where he typically shares his political opnions? Might even be his own channel, but perhaps the YouTube algorithm has me only watching his "neutral" stuff.
I've followed Louis Rossmann for more than 5 years and despite his channel has gone completely into opposing politics in wide themes, I haven't got anything else out of his political views than that he is a democrat despite he opposes Biden and deBlasio in general.
For me, as a very anti-political follower and hater of every politician and party, I really admire how Louis has ability to oppose and point out the problematic themes in omnious way and always unrelated to party, which I find very rare in the US.
(English is my 3rd language)
It leaks out a bit if you watch enough of his videos. I don't get the sense that he's right-wing in a MAGA ultra-bigot way, he's just very very libertarian. Loose gun laws, low-taxes, government stay outta my life kinda guy.
Not the kind of politics I subscribe to, but I don't consider him to be a bad person for it.
Some favorites of mine are The WAN Show, Command Line Heroes, Darknet Diaries, Linux Unplugged, Destination Linux and Surveillance Report All of these cover a lot of cool areas in tech, and I have never heard any right-wing views (or really any political views) voiced in any of these.
I used to listen to Linux Unplugged but it feels like the crypto crap took over creative control.
It's all let's read some crypto paid messages. Then a taking point. More crypto messages. Here is a part where we say the names of things wrong because the crypto messages told us to.
It is creeping into the self hosted show too.
FWIW, the boosts are typically in their own section that you can skip if you like. I put chapter markers in every episode to make it easy for you.
Those boosts are helping to keep the network solvent by diversifying income. As advertisers are getting more skittish, income needs to come from somewhere. None of us can afford to work for free, and there's already one show that would be completely dead without boosts.
They also function similarly to feedback. Yes, there's plenty of shenanigans, but Linux Unplugged has always been about creating an entertaining talk show kind of vibe. Linux Action News is more the serious one. Unfortunately, that's on hiatus because of lack of sponsors.
Chris does try to tailor the boost segments per-show so they fit with the theme. Self Hosted, for example, keeps boosts more topical on average. It's also worth mentioning that we haven't removed email feedback - this isn't pay-to-play.
Source: I edit Linux Unplugged, Self Hosted, Office Hours, and Coder Radio.
I've been listening to them forever and was also pretty apprehensive about the crypto stuff but in the end he's really just using it as a way to get donations. I personally don't feel like the podcast talks about crypto much, if at all, and the boosts sections actually add to the show imo.
Do you listen to risky.biz?
I haven't, but I've seen it in my Spotify recommendations. I also subscribed to the newsletter, though I haven't had much time to read it much.
Trashfuture is the best tech podcast
Alice on there is also on "Well there's your problem" a podcast about engineering disasters.
Really the whole Trashfuture extended universe is fantastic
A podcast on engineering disasters that is also itself an engineering disaster.
Ive been listening to these two for years. I highly recommend anything Brad Shoemaker-related.
Brad and Will Made a Tech Pod - https://techpod.content.town/
Brad Shoemaker of Gamespot/GiantBomb/Nextlander and Will Smith of Tested.com and several other things (but not THAT Will Smith) both dive into tech issues and are more to the left. They also have a separate FOSS Pod.
Came here to recommend this
Seconded, one of my favorite podcasts.
It might be too much fluff for you, but the Vergecast is hosted by a trio of flaming liberals. I avoid the website these days, but I honestly think they do a better a job with the podcast.
I have listened since the time it was the Engadget podcast, then This Is My Next, then the Vergecast. Yes, it's fluff and not deep technical info, but it's really useful for keeping up with the overall zeitgeist of the tech industry. Also it's often funny. It's a nice, refreshing thing to listen to while making coffee on a Friday.
Welcome to the vergecast, the flagship podcast of left wing propaganda
In all seriousness though, this is one of the podcasts I tune in to religiously. It’s just too fun and serves as a great high level of “what’s up in big tech” even when my brain is mush.
I was just reading an article on The Verge, and let me tell you, it was not pleasant. Bad site to go to on a mobile browser without adblock.
It’s been a bit since I got an episode up but you could check my podcast - https://shellsharks.com/podcast. It’s tech / infosec-themed. I’m pretty sure I take a lot of jabs in the other direction haha.
Maybe not what you're looking for, but Security Now! seems to fit that bill. TWiT has a bunch of other shows as well, covering a range of topics. I can honestly say I've never encountered any bigoted hosts or guests on the shows I've listened to.
Agree completely about Security Now - I’ve been listening since the beginning (like 15+ years now?) and I honestly don’t remember Steve Gibson saying much political stuff. Leo is obviously pretty liberal, but he normally keeps a lid on anything political as well, unless it is tech industry specific. (Full disclosure - I am fairly liberal so maybe I’m oblivious)
It is quite good but anyone new to the show should know Steve plans to retire from the show after I think he said 999 or 1000. That's a little over a year from now. Hopefully they'll get someone capable to fill in.
The Homelab show. Hosted by the owner of Lawrence Systems Canadian managed services firm along with another guy who I can't remember. Very cool podcast for people who like to tinker with servers at home, or in the cloud.
Are you telling me that Malicious Life and The Darknet Diaries are right-wing? Admittedly, I haven't listened to either in quite a while, so something might have been said since.
Both are solid podcasts and I’ve never heard an ounce of leaning politically from either.
Darknet Diaries is great, I think I got a little turned off by how the host and a guest were talking about camgirls on an episode. Like it was framed as the patrons deserved privacy and protection, but not the sex workers. I haven't listened to the other one but I'll give it a try!
The Mozilla Foundation did a tech podcast called IRL. It hasn't updated in nearly a year, and I don't know if it's ever coming back, but some of their back episodes are worth listening to.
Hanselminutes by Scott Hanselman. Covers a variety of tech topics. He's kinda like the Mr. Rodgers of programming and tech podcasts.
Thank you!! I also found 2 girls one podcast, it's a lot of internet culture stuff and they have an episode about Lemmy
I felt the same way about different privacy/security forums after a bit. Every time I checked the off topic forums I was seeing highly political, often extreme content, mixed with slurs that would made me blush...and I grew up around racist fishermen and homophobic truckers.
I think a lot of American privacy/security folks start with realizing the US government isn’t about privacy, so they want smaller government, but the only party pushing for smaller government pushes bigoted views to so the privacy folks get sucked into that mental space… not condoning them at all but I think this situation is the result of two-party government. I’m in security sector, but I do research and so there are a lot more left-leaning people around me. Sorry I don’t know any podcasts to recommend though.
It’s a niche, rather than general technology, but the Internet of Things Podcast - Stacey on IoT is always professional. It’s hosted by Stacey Higginbothem and it’s refreshing to have womens perspective in a heavily male dominated industry.
I think techwontsave.us is want you didn't know you want, but maybe you'll enjoy it. It has some really interesting guests and topics.
If you're a web dev who fuckin' loves JavaScript, Syntax is a good answer. I don't think Wes Bos or Scott Tolinski are shitbags.
Their podcast is always supper informative and fun. Very positive people that are nice to listen to. I often put that on when walking to the grocery store or going on quick drives
Those two are always make for a great listen, they keep things pretty clean and fairly non-political.
MKBHD has a good podcast called the Waveform Podcast. It doesn’t go super deep into the tech but its good. I like to watch the video podcast on youtube while i eat
That's nothing to do with security or networking. It's entirely around consumer tech.
Oh yeah whoops i only read the title
If you liked/tried Reply All I highly recommend Underunderstood (plus Overunderstood if you join their Patreon, it's a big catalog). That being said it's more tech in culture than heavy/deep tech (they're journalists, not developers/hackers)
I don't think Darknet Diaries falls into this boat either...? The host may be libertarian or something but it's not really relevant to the content since it's mostly narrative-driven interviews or stories
How is your Swiss German? I quite like SRF Digital, but it's likely completely incomprehensible.
I'm not OP, but thanks for the tip, will check it out. Greetings from Züri Oberland.
I like the late night Linux shows. And hackaday.
Here are a few I listen to that stick to the topic of their shows. I don't listen to podcasts that aren't political by nature to hear politics.
It's been mentioned already, but I genuinely love the WAN Show. Linus and Luke work really well together, and it's easily become my go-to podcast during my daily walks. This is coming from someone who generally doesn't enjoy podcasts, so maybe that means something?
Accidental Tech Podcast ATP
It’s Apple-centric if you don’t mind that and the hosts are super friendly.
Weird how people like you can't hear an opinion if the person speaking isn't gay.
this is only your third comment on our site and you are not making a good impression by immediately getting offended by a pretty banal ask.
It's tiring hearing people discuss how myself and people like me shouldn't have rights, so I try to avoid it.
The fact that it's much easier to avoid bigotry by sticking to queer-created content says more about cishet people than it does about LGBTQ+ folks.
Twenty years ago, before I questioned anything about myself, I fell in a pattern of looking for queer friendly spaces when looking for nice clans inside games I played. It's a shorthand for receptive spaces that I use even today.
Yes, but listening to tech podcasts should include talks about tech only. I won't listen to it if it turns into non-tech related political talk even for oneliners here and there.
The old joke was "I hate when I go to Vuvuzela concert, but people starts to play soccer". It applies into tech as well, at least for me personally.
I don't oppose/resist peoples freedom for their self-expression on any level, but I want to enjoy tech purely free from politics simply because living avoiding politics is hard enough already. I still support Pride-people to express themselves as they want.
It's weird how some people (who might be LGBT, a woman,BIPOC, or not bigots) don't want to hear conservative white people spouting racist, sexist, bigoted crap ...
From OP: Are there any that are more leftist, hosted by LGBT peeps, or at least not actively bigoted ?
How is this different from: are there any podcast hosted by right wing and or racists whyte cucks, at least not openly pro gay?
People need to understand thay this attitude goes both ways and fuels these degenerate culture war dick measuring contests.
Believing that certain folks don't deserve basic rights because of their identity, sexual orientation, skin color, etc. is not an opinion that's acceptable. No one with a brain wants to hear any of that non-sense thankfully!
If you listen to tech podcasts, you might learn what a logical "or" means.
Any podcast on the Relay FM network sounds like what you’re looking for!
Who cares?
Please help me to understand how this can be interpreted as anything but rude and dismissive
Maybe you don't, but many do. Why bother replying if you're insinuating you don't?
Who pissed in your cereal? People have different interests.
One could say that conservatives can be very passionate about their political beliefs. If you're listening to a podcast about technology, or any other topic for that matter, you might find it off-putting for the host to interject with their irrelevant beliefs. Obviously there are times when politics can be topical to the conversation. That usually revolves around legal cases and policy making.
I'm glad you pointed this out. We need to move past the "this person said something I don't agree with so I will never interact with them again"
Identity politics are bad and we should not be beholden to them.
People and their technical knowledge are more than their political views.
@Recant Switching to an alt to try to talk up your original point doesn't work when all of the other replies have already called you out.
Sure, people are more than their political views, but I don't know that that means political comments made in tech content should just be ignored. The people making the content put them there deliberately, and there's enough tech content out there that at the very least if that bothers you, it's easily possible to find something that doesn't include those comments, if not something that includes political commentary that isn't bothersome.
On top of that, what some might call identity politics, others would call minority groups getting together and demanding that their voices be heard the same as others. Political divisions often reflect real life experiences and how they differ, and the only way to just ignore the political differences is to ignore important issues is people's lives.
Identity politics is also a 2 way street. I'm not familiar with tech podcasters specifically, but I imagine they're not getting the same kind of push back if the political commentary is putting minorities in a negative light.
What I am using far too many words to say is, dismissing the concerns of the OP because they sound a little bit too much like identity politics is not a nice way to contribute to this thread, and I encourage you to reexamine your post and think of nicer ways to contribute in the future.
The EFF's How to Fix the Internet is an interesting podcast which talks about various issues with the current landscape of the internet and potential ways to improve it.
I can't help you with a left-leaning podcast. But if you want an informative and politically neutral show, check out https://dailytechnewsshow.com/
Can second DTNS, it's very neutral and is just about the news. Although I feel like certain hosts definitely lean left but it really never comes out because they just stick to the tech topics.
Certainly everyone has an opinion. But I think they're very good about trying to cover all sides and stay mostly neutral.
2.5 Admins and any of the Jupiter Broadcasting podcasts seem fine.
I don't reddit anymore but one who occasionally showed up on /r/BreadTube was "The Hated One," seems infrequent (or maybe has gone behind a paywall, not sure). astoundingteam.com/wordpress/2…
ATP has a lot of Apple talk, but the hosts fit the bill you describe as I'm pretty sure they're all left of center. Not that politics come up a lot, but there certainly aren't any off-color jokes. ATP's John Siracusa hosts another podcast with Merlin Mann called Reconcilable Differences, and Merlin Mann hosts another I like called Back to Work, and they talk a lot about tech as well. Neither is a strictly tech podcast but I enjoy them all the same.
Love the recommendations here! Would also like tech YouTube or general content creator recommendations too since a lot of them say some really sus shit that has nothing to do with tech. Recently unsubbed from one that outright made a blatantly sexist joke complete with visuals
Ugghh right 🥴 I really like tracketpacer on Tiktok, she's a network engineer and does lots of memes. Senegodess Tech on YouTube does more general career videos, "day in the life" type stuff but she's fun to listen to. Oh and Julia Evans has lots of cute zines, some of them free, explaining computer science stuff. I listened to an interview with her and you can tell how excited she is to talk about 'puters and her love for them is infectious.
It's not an exact match but I've been enjoying Hard Fork.
Pivot. It's more high level and look at business rather than in the weeds.
I've been a fan of "Working Code" so far, no off-color beats yet
It’s Apple focused, but Accidental Tech Podcast definitively fits the bill!
For the lazy, from their website atp.fm:
Three nerds discussing tech, Apple, programming, and loosely related matters. Hosted by Marco Arment, Casey Liss, and John Siracusa.
Decipher Security for a heavy infosec focus
Technology Pill by Privacy International for something looking more at the impact of tech on society and human rights
And as other have said I do enjoy the occasional Linux unplugged!
I haven't listened lately but "Greater than Code" is pretty good.
Try TWIT (This week in Tech) and other TWIT family podcasts. Leo LePorte is quite liberal. https://twit.tv/