Americans weren't really smarter than Indians, but why were they richer than us?

amitkriit

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Because we literally suck at innovation. Our social system doesn't forgive mistakes, unlike USA which encourages free thinking and risk-taking.
Also, because we are not self-confident, we don't really believe in our abilities. Even the Indians at top jobs suffer of inferiority complex, because we have been fed since our childhood that everything comes from west.

Attitude and aptitude are needed to grow and make a mark, and we lag severely in the first one.
 

Bangalorean

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Because we literally suck at innovation. Our social system doesn't forgive mistakes, unlike USA which encourages free thinking and risk-taking.
Also, because we are not self-confident, we don't really believe in our abilities. Even the Indians at top jobs suffer of inferiority complex, because we have been fed since our childhood that everything comes from west.

Attitude and aptitude are needed to grow and make a mark, and we lag severely in the first one.
True.

However, these things are changing in the past few years. In another decade the situation will improve considerably.

In general, economic growth and progress brings about confidence and gets rid of inferiority complex, which in turn breeds more economic development. Virtuous cycle. As long as the NehruGandhi rate of growth was prevalent in our economy, there was no way India and Indians would have got rid of the inferiority complex.

Even today, I see numerous examples of people from the old generation sticking on to the outdated notions and still having an inferiority complex.
The next generation should be a winning one.
 

The Messiah

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Because we literally suck at innovation. Our social system doesn't forgive mistakes, unlike USA which encourages free thinking and risk-taking.
Also, because we are not self-confident, we don't really believe in our abilities. Even the Indians at top jobs suffer of inferiority complex, because we have been fed since our childhood that everything comes from west.

Attitude and aptitude are needed to grow and make a mark, and we lag severely in the first one.
Well said. I was about to write something similar.
 

The Messiah

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Even today, I see numerous examples of people from the old generation sticking on to the outdated notions and still having an inferiority complex.
The next generation should be a winning one.
It all depends on our generation. Next generation will only learn from us.

As you know i dont have inferiority complex as an Indian. Only slight encouragement and right work ethic is needed and we will be at the top 8)
 

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It all depends on our generation. Next generation will only learn from us.

As you know i dont have inferiority complex as an Indian. Only slight encouragement and right work ethic is needed and we will be at the top 8)
Yes, I suppose you don't. :) Even I don't have an inferiority complex, but most Indians of my age had such a complex when we were young. It has gone away due to better knowledge of the world around us, and after having actually travelled various parts of the world, and the country, and most importantly - after actually watching some real progress and seeing something being achieved around us. Seeing positive change around us is a very very important part of getting rid of the complex.

However, people with inferiority complex can still be very nationalistic and patriotic. A large percentage of the Paki population can be classified as such. :)
 

HeinzGud

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Nah............ I don't think Indian mentality will change in couple of decades. It will take an eternity unless Indian progressive thinking improves to a level that most of India'll detach religion from their social life..... In USA religion is just a personal thing not social and they don't give a religious value for the society.................. However rich the USA is they are down in their social system as well!
 

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And lot of Indians from the older generation have a fatalistic and 'set in stone' mindset. Lot of belief in destiny and 'upar waale ki marzi'. In their worldview, there are people who are rich, and people who are poor, and then there are those in between. They extrapolate this logic to nations too. According to their worldview, the "West" is destined to be rich, exploitative and imperialist, and India is destined to be poor and downtrodden. I suspect this is some way influenced by the pervasion of the caste system in ancient society.
 

W.G.Ewald

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As you know i dont have inferiority complex as an Indian.
No, you don't. I don't get the Indian "inferiority complex" thing anyway. I think Indians generally try to avoid conflict, and as such may be thought by superficial thinkers to have an inferiority compex. But, as the Irish proverb goes, "Coimhéad fearg fhear na foighde."

"Beware of the anger of a patient man."
 

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Nah............ I don't think Indian mentality will change in couple of decades. It will take an eternity unless Indian progressive thinking improves to a level that most of India'll detach religion from their social life..... In USA religion is just a personal thing not social and they don't give a religious value for the society.................. However rich the USA is they are down in their social system as well!
You are confusing India and Pakistan, maybe... :)

Seriously though - conflation of religion and public life in India is very limited. You couldn't be more wrong.
 

HeinzGud

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You are confusing India and Pakistan, maybe... :)

Seriously though - conflation of religion and public life in India is very limited. You couldn't be more wrong.
Ahhhmmm what about the cast system then?............ Isn't it associate with the Brahmin thinking???
 

pmaitra

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Because we literally suck at innovation. Our social system doesn't forgive mistakes, unlike USA which encourages free thinking and risk-taking.
Also, because we are not self-confident, we don't really believe in our abilities. Even the Indians at top jobs suffer of inferiority complex, because we have been fed since our childhood that everything comes from west.

Attitude and aptitude are needed to grow and make a mark, and we lag severely in the first one.
Good post.

If I may add, Americans know how to plug the holes and address their weaknesses. In fact, acknowledging ones own weaknesses is one key to success. One example would be the US rocket and space program. They were struggling and the American scientists were just not able to get things right. They brought in Wehrner von Braun, the German scientist who worked on the V1 and V2 rockets and got him to rectify their mistakes and voila, the US was soon chasing down the USSR and soon, with the manned Moon mission, beat the USSR in the space race.
 

The Messiah

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No, you don't. I don't get the Indian "inferiority complex" thing anyway. I think Indians generally try to avoid conflict, and as such may be thought by superficial thinkers to have an inferiority compex. But, as the Irish proverb goes, "Coimhéad fearg fhear na foighde."

"Beware of the anger of a patient man."
As far as war is concerned by and large Indians are pacifists. By inferority complex i mean some Indians seriously think India will never reach the top. Most of them are ignorant about the real aspects. They mock our space program which is quite good. Basically everything from outside is better from anything Indian not because it is actually better but because it is from outside. That annoys the shit out of me.
 

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Ahhhmmm what about the cast system then?............ Isn't it associate with the Brahmin thinking???
Most people have a very superficial and dumbed down understanding of "caste system". It is not as if there are "Brahmins" and "oppressed lower castes". It is not like that in modern India anymore.

The so-called OBCs (Other backward castes) are often more influential than the Brahmins today., in many cases And the maximum oppression of "lower castes" happens at the hands of the OBCs today.

Anyway, this is not even related to the topic. Pakistan is an ideal example where religion and too much religious fanaticism has screwed society. India hardly fits that bill.
 

rock127

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There are enough diamonds in India just that we need the apparatus to shine it.First it was the so called "peace loving" invaders then came Britishers who destroyed India and now the vashanj of those "peace loving" invaders are creating problems for us.

About 90% of the computers in the world is running on a microchip which was designed by an Indian Vinod Dham .... if Indians start looking back at it's history and innovation then there are ENOUGH things to be proud of.

But first we need a quality education system as the basis and enough research facilities.This is happening gradually and we have to work up for the best.
 

Bangalorean

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Anyway guys, we are going on the right track. Things are changing. Economic prosperity and growth always starts a virtuous cycle. We are at the starting stages of that cycle, and it can just become better.

I do not know if India, or for that matter any nation, can achieve the singular greatness that the USA achieved in the last century. More likely, it will be a multipolar world with wealth, inventions, knowledge, etc. being distributed among several nations. The kind of dominance that the US achieved in the last century might be beyond anyone's grasp.

But one thing is for sure: we will live to see the transformation of the country into a reasonably good, prosperous and powerful entity.
 

HeinzGud

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Most people have a very superficial and dumbed down understanding of "caste system". It is not as if there are "Brahmins" and "oppressed lower castes". It is not like that in modern India anymore.

The so-called OBCs (Other backward castes) are often more influential than the Brahmins today., in many cases And the maximum oppression of "lower castes" happens at the hands of the OBCs today.

Anyway, this is not even related to the topic. Pakistan is an ideal example where religion and too much religious fanaticism has screwed society. India hardly fits that bill.
Well you are right in certain aspect but considering the 1.5bn or so Indian lives in India, only fraction of them think positively... Unless this huge gap of mindset isn't bridged it is highly unlikely that Indian will be as rich Americans. (not only in money but in other aspects as well) Take the example of the Literacy rates of both countries,

India - 82%
China - 98.9%
Sri Lanka - 98%
Pakistan - 73.9%
United States - 99%

What happen when there are more educated people.... more ingenious innovations occurs!
 

Bangalorean

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^^ Certainly. Social indicators such as literacy are very important.

But the reason people on this forum are optimistic is the improvement we have made in the last 20 years. I encourage you to check India's statistics from 1989. And check those of 2011. You will understand the way we are heading. :)

And achieving all this with the amount of religious, regional, linguistic, racial divisions that we have, is no mean feat.
 

HeinzGud

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^^ Certainly. Social indicators such as literacy are very important.

But the reason people on this forum are optimistic is the improvement we have made in the last 20 years. I encourage you to check India's statistics from 1989. And check those of 2011. You will understand the way we are heading. :)

And achieving all this with the amount of religious, regional, linguistic, racial divisions that we have, is no mean feat.
Indeed India is heading the right direction at a considerable speed! But there are some issues dragging the India's developing mindset.
 

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