> There are some parts of the state that are cheaper, beautiful, and less wind blown, like the Big Horn mountain area where I grew up. But they're still cold, conservative places dominated by the extractive industries. I got out as soon as I could.
Personally I prefer the more conservative environs versus the often over-bearing liberal attitude which dominates the Bay Area or other large cities. Perhaps the cold wind blown regions help people keep a level head. ;) So it's a matter of perspective.
Regardless, there are a lot of beautiful parts of the state and the K-12 education in many parts of the state excels [1]. Partly thats due to taxes from the mineral extraction industries.
> There's also cultural resistance to new industry. ... It's not even that the populace isn't smart enough to do them--mining is actually a pretty technical field at this point.
Unfortunately the cultural resistance to new industries does exist and dampens the development of new industries. Wyoming has a lot of talented industrially minded people. Many people grow up mechanically inclined due to the culture (here and surrounding states). This leads to younger Wyoming residents who are much more open to technology industries and looking for ways to stay in the state and willing to start businesses or create new technologies [2, 3]. There's also technology initiatives by the University of Wyoming, which due to the small population, have a impact across the state [4]. There is even some interesting deep learning research happening at the university in conjunction with a well known SV company [5].
All in all, the state has a small population but a relatively out-sized opportunities for those inclined to find them. Initiatives like the one in the article do make an impact here.
Personally I prefer the more conservative environs versus the often over-bearing liberal attitude which dominates the Bay Area or other large cities. Perhaps the cold wind blown regions help people keep a level head. ;) So it's a matter of perspective.
Regardless, there are a lot of beautiful parts of the state and the K-12 education in many parts of the state excels [1]. Partly thats due to taxes from the mineral extraction industries.
> There's also cultural resistance to new industry. ... It's not even that the populace isn't smart enough to do them--mining is actually a pretty technical field at this point.
Unfortunately the cultural resistance to new industries does exist and dampens the development of new industries. Wyoming has a lot of talented industrially minded people. Many people grow up mechanically inclined due to the culture (here and surrounding states). This leads to younger Wyoming residents who are much more open to technology industries and looking for ways to stay in the state and willing to start businesses or create new technologies [2, 3]. There's also technology initiatives by the University of Wyoming, which due to the small population, have a impact across the state [4]. There is even some interesting deep learning research happening at the university in conjunction with a well known SV company [5].
All in all, the state has a small population but a relatively out-sized opportunities for those inclined to find them. Initiatives like the one in the article do make an impact here.
1: http://trib.com/news/local/education/wyoming-ranked-th-in-na... 2: http://wyomingpublicmedia.org/post/laramie-farming-start-has... 3: https://gizmodo.com/maximize-a-lazy-summer-afternoon-with-th... 4: https://thejournal.com/articles/2016/08/19/wyoming-and-new-h... 5: https://eng.uber.com/vine/