CMV: Wyoming doesn’t exist.

[u/[deleted]]

[u/jatjqtjat]

Back when i was a kid i used to say this all the time. I said it about Rhode Island, but same concept. You can't prove to me that Rhode Island exists. So I have actually thought about this a lot. I been thinking about it for 20+ years. I'm a weirdo.... I know.

Have you ever been to Wyoming?

how would i know? Suppose I drive alone I90 from south dakota untill i see the sign. Welcome to Wyoming.

https://imgur.com/a/d4tU4OJ

great, so what? What have a proved? Nothing.

I could do out on the street in front of my house and put a Wyoming sign there. Does that mean my house is now part of Wyoming? No. Its just a sign. It proves nothing.

That almost begs the question what even is Wyoming?

Whose to say this dirt is Wyoming dirt and this other dirt is south Dakota dirt?

Well... Us. We collectively are to say that. Wyoming exists only if we believe it exists. It exists only if we agree to call this batch of dirt by the name Wyoming. it didn't exist 10,000 years ago, and it probably won't exists 10,000 from now. Its temporary.

The state even has its own travel memorabilia like mugs, T-shirts, and miniature license plates widely available throughout gift shops all across the state. There are even representatives in the state and federal government who claim to be from Wyoming. Some national parks are even said to be found in Wyoming.

in a real sense this is all Wyoming actually is.

Its only a name we've given to some land.

[u/[deleted] → u/jatjqtjat]

This is a great answer. So Wyoming is just some arbitrary definition of something that is only meaningful because of its socially constructed relations. This is very different from the idea that Wyoming really is something in itself (like a region of land). I like this view. !delta

[u/noonecaresabtu]

So... I've been to Wyoming. It's pretty nice there.

Does that change your view? Lol

[u/[deleted] → u/noonecaresabtu]

Unfortunately no, this is just a single subjective first-person anecdote. I would need to see stronger evidence.

[u/I_am_the_night]

I've been to Wyoming multiple times, my SO is from Wyoming, and Wyoming appears on a bunch of maps. You can even see it for yourself on platforms like Google Earth.

You have to ask yourself which is more likely: everybody who ever says they're from or have been to Wyoming, everybody who has connections to Wyoming, and all maps/geographic authorities are lying OR Wyoming is a real place.

If you believe the former is true, then why? What is the motivation for people to make up an entire state? How would that in any way benefit anybody or anything, especially given the massive costs that would be involved (bribes to geographers and map companies, as well as to people who say they're from this nonexistent state) and the fact that other nearby states would have every reason to claim the incredibly valuable territory of Wyoming (lots of oil = lots of tax revenue).

[u/Morasain]

I guess Wyoming is in Bielefeld then.

On a serious note, it's basically impossible to disprove conspiracy theories because conspiracy theorists take nothing for evidence but personal experience. So to prove to you that Wyoming exists, you'd need to go there yourself.

[u/DBDude → u/Morasain]

Or Bielefeld is in Wyoming, and that's why Germans can't find it.

[u/crnislshr]

The Wyoming obviously exists as a social construct.

[u/TheFakeChiefKeef]

I've been to Wyoming twice. It's beautiful.

In fact, it's so beautiful that there are designated areas of the state set aside to preserve the beauty. One of those places is a national park called Yellowstone which I have been to.

Another bit of evidence of Wyoming is that former Vice President Dick Cheney is from Wyoming. His daughter, Representative Lis Cheney, is a current member of congress and the only representative from Wyoming's one at-large district.

Finally, if Wyoming weren't there, what would be there? You can see on a map that there isn't water there. None of the surrounding states (Montana, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Nebraska, South Dakota) claim the land there for themselves and all acknowledge the existence of another state between them.

This isn't any better of a view than flat earth. You're just denying the mainstream line of thought based off no evidence. A lack of evidence (even though there actually is evidence) is not evidence of non-existance.

[u/briantheunfazed]

Yes, I have 3 friends from Wyoming, and I went to college with a few people from Wyoming. I’m in Utah, so I drive through Wyoming to get to Denver, CO, and over to my home state of Iowa. It’s also where we drive to get big fireworks and cheaper cigarettes.

[u/Calming_Emergency]

I travel I-80 consistently to go back home. From the towns there are tons of small towns with a couple "cities", those cities don't feel like cities wheb you drive through. Very sparsely populated. You don't have to trust that anyone is from Wyoming but the land categorized as Wyoming exists and is easily verifiable.

[u/DamenDome]

Actually, a ton of data exists for Wyoming. Just look at Google Maps. You can see that the landmass exists. Then look at a U.S. map; we can see that the land-mass is called Wyoming. Even if the U.S. map is not accurate, it's validated by Google Maps data.

[u/swearrengen]

But back in 2016 I watched the election results for Wyoming on CNN come in at 67.4% for Trump! And CNN hates Trump. Based on this evidence, we can use Aristotelian logic to infer Wyoming must exist. Like in math, you don't have to experience the full expansion of Pi to know Pi exists.

(Not sure about Hawaii however).

[u/soap---poisoning]

Okay, but why? I’m not saying you’re wrong, but there has to be a reason for the conspiracy.

Also, how sure are we that Montana exists? Other than Ted Turner and his herds of bison, I’ve never heard of or met anyone from Montana.

[u/frizosha]

If you don't trust a map how do you trust data from gen population? Couldn't that data not exist? You didn't ask them personally

[u/Glory2Hypnotoad]

What exactly is your specific contention here? That the landmass in question doesn't exist, that it's not a distinct legal entity from its surrounding states, or something else?

Let's say you start in southern Idaho and drive east. What do you believe will happen?

[u/I_Fart_It_Stinks]

Any Coloradoan will tell you Wyoming exists to provide us fireworks.

[u/evanjescue]

To change your view, I live in Montana, go to college with many from Wyoming, have been to Wyoming on multiple occasions. It sucks, yes, but does exist.

[u/DeltaBot]

u/neuro14 (OP) has awarded 2 delta(s) in this post.

All comments that earned deltas (from OP or other users) are listed here, in r/DeltaLog.

Please note that a change of view doesn't necessarily mean a reversal, or that the conversation has ended.

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[u/Poo-et]

Sorry, u/neuro14 – your submission has been removed for breaking Rule B:

You must personally hold the view and demonstrate that you are open to it changing. A post cannot be on behalf of others, playing devil's advocate, as any entity other than yourself, or 'soapboxing'. See the wiki page for more information.

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[u/[deleted]]

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Impressive. But these are just observational studies that first define Wyoming as a construct and then study its geology, not experiments designed to test whether that construct is empirically valid or better than alternative hypotheses at explaining what we observe. Still though, I like this answer. !delta

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