By now I've gone through four full seasons of Yellowstone. I don't think it's a show that breaks any new ground as a literature. It's good as what it is, but Breaking Bad it is not.

As a narrative vehicle, I can smell the conservatism a mile away. I even like some of its message, even if it's hardly subtle.

The show romanticizes life of cowboys in ways that makes me wonder why the same treatment is barely developed for other blue-collar professions, say farmers.

I don't think stories like this could have acquired hit status in a less digital age.

The fact that it's well received speaks to how people are drawn to life that's unlike what they're leading.

It reminds you that there's a different way of life. A real slow one, one of living with the nature, not from it. One where wrangling cows feels more alive than massaging numbers on spreadsheets.

The thing about slow life is that fast-lifers can probably adapt to slow life if they set out to do it; but slow-lifers have a hard time living a fast life even if they want to.

Two old ideas happened to crossed my radar I can't ignore:

1. Jared Diamond's opinion about agriculture being the worst mistake humans ever made
2. Humans weren't designed to punch buttons sitting at a desk all day

That got me to simulate in my head (with the help of LLM) how a hunting/gathering mankind would have evolved. If institutions didn't get developed as a result, can knowledge still be retained? What would take the place of religion and science? My simulations didn't get very far yet, this is work/play in progress.

To a wrangler who busts his ass roping cows, I can see how he would think a keyboard warrior is wasting his life. Or even worse, not really alive at all.

Looking at the success of MineCraft, it's reasonable to conclude that humans haven't outlived their tendency for mindless grind. Digital ranches simply made it easier.