

Ask HN: Exciting hobbyist communities nowadays? - gtirloni

Is it even possible these days to enter a hobbyist community and be working with things that will change the world in a few decades? Much like creators of the first Mac meeting at their local computer club (with Wozniak showing his designs to people)?<p>What would be some exciting hobbyist communities that are working on cutting edge stuff that we might take for granted in a few decades? Hackerspaces seem the logical choice but sometimes it&#x27;s more of the same everywhere. Are there spaces working in exciting new things?<p>Can you share information about communities where the level of excitement could be compared to that of working in a garage in the 80&#x27;s? I&#x27;m interested in anything minimally related to technology. Is biotech where the fun is these days? Can the average Joe dream of creating something life changing in his garage?<p>I know these are all very broad questions. No precise answer needed (and this is my first time asking anything on HN, sorry for mistakes).
======
retroafroman
Consumer level 3D printing fits the description. The type of plastic fused
deposition modeling machines (Makerbot, etc) that are common now all largely
hail back to 2-3 open source designs, which they then tweaked and improved on.
Hobbyists are still pushing a lot of the game forward with better software and
interfaces, as well as ideas for improvements like heated build beds, etc.
Knowledge is often shared on web forums and blogs.

