I’m not sure you can make a STEAMpunk genere when steampunk already exists. And trying to make STEM into STEAM when it’s not a common acronym would cause a second layer of confusion. You’d be better off coming up with a new name. On top of that most of the “punk” generes follow a specific age that is driven by the name. Stream, Diesel, Atomic, Cyber, Solar, etc. STEM/STEAM is something that exists across many ages
this post was submitted on 24 Aug 2026
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Like hard SciFi?
Yes, some hard sci-fi could be I think. There's some tech-punk/cyberpunk, but what about sciencepunk? Biopunk, geopunk.. might there be some, but is particle-physicspunk a thing? Mathpunk? And all STEAM-punk at the same time? Not debating, the thought came literally in the shower, like I don't even have the meaning very clearly thought out, so I would be very curious if you have any suggestion you think can fit.
I guess Greg Egan's short stories somewhat fit some of those bills. Try the "Axiomatic" collection, I remember some mathpunk and particle physics punk. Even some biology punk/art punk intersection.
You just shoved "arts" in there for the acronym, huh?
It wasn't me. But personally I think it's nice the A is there. Punk is inherently a bit artsy already, but you can take it up a notch still.
It wasn’t me. But personally I think it’s nice the A is there.
STEAM is BS, because the arts don't deal with the same kinds of problems STEM does. You might as well put in fucking business or "english" (local/lingua franca language) in there too just to involve everything involved in projects so that we can cover the entirety of human experience.
Or, you could promote more well rounded people who don't just hyper-focus into science/math type problems but also take on the harder "squishy" problems like relating to / making impressions on other people.
Yes, it's called fucking school. When you teach people in school, each class has a certain topic. STEM is a general gathering of related topics to address shared themes and strengthen those themes. It's not "general education" it's a specific specialisation that has banded together synergistically. STEM doesn't mean "Nothing else matters", STEM means : "Here's some resource that helps with logic based subjects".
There's also "humanities" but people aren't there cramming fucking chemical equations into english classes. Humanities has other fundementals and abilities and themes that they share , like IDFK, essay writing, that helps those topics in a similar manner, and they band together to arrange classes or tools or fucking whatever to help that stuff out.
They don't need STEM busting in there to math up the goddamn place.
Fucking school is the part that students naturally seek after class.
I've seen plenty of arts and humanities that could benefit from a bit of STEM just so they can "express themselves" more effectively in our technology laden world.
Again, you and the other art crammers are forgetting the central point : STEM is an umbrella term to bind similar fields.
The ideals of cross-discipline collaboration are not under threat just because the logic topics are having a special little get together.
STEEBAHMS - Science, Technology, Engineering, English, Business, Arts, History, Mathematics, Sports.
At a point they are just coming up with new ways to spell "school".
Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math, Education, Dendrology, History, Archaeology, Management, Sociology
STEAMEDHAMS
At this time of year! At this time of day! In this part of the country! Localized entirely within your kitchen?!?
Hey, it's not school, it's educational products you buy outside the school curriculum.
This week brought to you by KiwiCo...
Wait... Did OP just re-invent the actual dystopia we currently live in? I don't want people giving cutesy names to our actual real-life suffering. Now I'm sad and anxious again even though I'm looking at the dopamine box... :(
These sites are gambling for dopamine, and instead of putting in money you put in time.
This is the attitude that’s ruining AAA games
Good engineering is combining your skills into art.
Art can be improved with a good working knowledge of engineering, too.
Full STEAM ahead, yo
what part of video games is science or engineering (not technology). As in Biology research or chemical engineering?
STEM is meant to be an umbrella term for people involved in logic and pragmatic fields to address concerns in, and to provide growth opportunities for people involved in them. The arts have a completely different skillset to grow and problems to solve.
The arts and sciences can collaborate to give great results, but the purpouse of STEM isn't to address that.
Art without STEM is sentimental. STEM without Art is sterile.
Not that I'm against the arts - I'm definitely not - but adding "arts" to STEM is akin to "but all lives matter".
The arts are great, but that's not what we're talking about.
adding "arts" to STEM is akin to "but all lives matter"
It most certainly is not.
but that's not what we're talking about
I'm talking about a particular genre or theme I made up out of a word play. What are you talking about? And, more importantly, how including Arts with STEM is on the level of white supremacist dog whistles?
You're free to make STEMpunk a thing if you want. That would be fun, ironically that would be slightly on line with creating 'all lives matter' to oppose BLM.
It's been pretty common to include arts in with STEM for a while, at least in the parts of the internet I inhabit. I know Adam Savage has used it for a few years on his YouTube channel.
And I'm personally a fan of it, I see art as just sort of applied STEM. Not everyone is going to be doing high-level professional STEM work, but at some point nearly everyone is going to paint or decorate something, try to fix or build something, etc. and it's going to be helpful for them to understand what kind of glues, fasteners, paints, etc. are going to be useful for their intended application.
And art is also a pretty effective gateway to getting kids (or even adults) interested in STEM. If you plop a kid down in front of a computer and start teaching them PYTHON out of a textbook, they're probably gonna be less than enthusiastic. But if you start by having them draw a cool robot, then have them build it out of a Lego robotics kit and help them to figure out how to make it move, you're probably gonna have a lot more success getting them interested in programming.
At University, I participated with a bunch of 3rd and 4th year Mechanical Engineering students in building 3D cardboard figures for a parade float, their cardboard car kept falling over. I showed them how to make a rigid box section out of cardboard to support the objects' structure... that hands-on "artsy" experience probably taught them more useful application of structural geometry than six semesters of engineering classes had.
Ah yes, the one correct way to teach. How could we have forgotten that all people enjoy and are naturally good at "Art" and therefore it is the correct 'gateway drug' to trick them into learning.
The closest to that would be hard sci-fi, where many authors were in STEM fields and used that background in their writings, or wrote stories based around their real life STEM field (this is often the case in Analog Magazine).
Some were punk in the solarpunk/cyberpunk sense, as they were often anti-authoritarian, and sometimes even anticapitalist.
What would be punk about it?
Steampunk is Steam (victorian inspired tech) + Punk (victorian inspired inequality)
Cyberpunk is Cyber (80s inspired tech) + Punk (80s inspired inequality)
Bethesda tried to market Starfield as NASApunk, no idea what that was supposed to mean.
Unfortunately for Bethesda these are narrative subgenres as well as aesthetic ones, and modern Bethesda can't write.
rebellion + modern day space navigation?
I'm not sure, current or very-near-future inspired tech + Current or near future (higher because it's rising) inequality + Punk, as in rebellious, anti-authoritarian, DIY spirit...
As I said in another comment, I don't know exactly how to define it, or even if it should have a definition so strict as to define the exact time, could be more or less futuristic. But I think I could do the opposite, I'd know if something is STEAMpunk when I see it.
I think it's worth exploring; the culture is more important than the tech. What are the societal systems that are driving resistance, how is access to STEAM distributed, how does this affect the lives of 'normal' people.
The main reason the the 'punk' subgenres coexist is that their technologies form a feedback loop with their cultures which makes them different and allows for different stories. What are the impacts of STEAM on society and how is this different to Cyberpunk with modern tech?
Aesthetic is also important because it captures the imagination and gives the genre staying power. There's a reason that Cyberpunk and Steampunk are the most popular, while Biopunk hasn't had the same impact.
What would you expect such a genre to be categorized by? How would it be different from, say, modern times?
I thought about the word play before the actual meaning of the term I try to coin, so I don't have it really well defined. Maybe modern times are starting to be a bit STEAMpunk, and it could became more so. With the attack on science, education, health care, infrastructure... might be a rise in massive backyard telescopes (they exist, astropunk as fuck), basement medical labs, underground universities, communities taking it in their on hands and repairing roads or even upgrading the potholes with sculptures or fountains and they're now pedestrian only streets, DIYing solar trams/street cars... I think all of these fit the STEAMpunk theme.
...you mean, science fiction?
Yeah... It's called "sci-fi."
Maybe a subset of the sci fi could be, but most of it isn't very punk. Belters in the expanse could fit a spacepunk theme. Star Wars or Star Trek are not punk at all even if some species or characters could be considered so, they're usually portrayed as the baddies and the main theme is quite the opposite.
Isn't that everything? Like, in university, doesn't everything basically fall into Arts or Sciences?
NASApunk? Near future hard sci-fi with rose coloured glasses for a humanity that organizes collectively to explore the stars.