I wonder if myths like this explain some fraction of a country's economic growth. I suspect that in Europe, this kind of myth would end with the perpetrator being executed for lying and committing heresy; even the Geek myths wouldn't have a god show up to make good on someone else's bogus promises.
The Weaver, the Princess and Goldman Sachs
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Re: The Weaver, the Princess and Goldman Sachs
#12Excellent story. The world is full of wisdom in the form of myths and stories. Those who know how to learn from this immense repository of human experience are a step ahead of the rest.
Very true - and even more so if you're able to tell these stories in an engaging way to make a point. A good storyteller beats powerpoint any day.
Re: The Weaver, the Princess and Goldman Sachs
#13What is good collection of these Indian myths? Is there one akin to One Thousand and One Arabian Nights; with more focus on India?
Re: The Weaver, the Princess and Goldman Sachs
#14I would like to know what kind of factory the author works in.
As for me, I'd like to know if anyone has ever been convicted in India for impersonating a god.
Re: The Weaver, the Princess and Goldman Sachs
#15Winston Zeddemore from Ghostbusters: "Ray, when someone asks you if you are a god, you say YES!"
awesomely enough, this too is a criminal offence under Section 508
Come to think of it, a lot of India's "God men" could conceivably be prosecuted under that law.
Re: The Weaver, the Princess and Goldman Sachs
#16What is good collection of these Indian myths? Is there one akin to One Thousand and One Arabian Nights; with more focus on India?
The Panchatantra: a collection of ancient Hindu tales [PDF]
http://books.google.com/books?id=jB0YAAAAYAAJ
This one is "Weaver as Vishnu" on page 46.
Note: the HTML version is in Sanskrit, the PDF in English.
Edit: Of course, there are many other works of Indian mythology. The big two being the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, which if you consider it a single work, is the longest text ever written. The heart of the Mahabharata is the Bhagavad Gita.
Re: The Weaver, the Princess and Goldman Sachs
#17What is good collection of these Indian myths? Is there one akin to One Thousand and One Arabian Nights; with more focus on India?
Re: The Weaver, the Princess and Goldman Sachs
#18I wonder if myths like this explain some fraction of a country's economic growth. I suspect that in Europe, this kind of myth would end with the perpetrator being executed for lying and committing heresy; even the Geek myths wouldn't have a god show up to make good on someone else's bogus promises.
Eliezer Yudkowsky also suggested this, at least regarding this African myth: http://robinhanson.typepad.com/overcomingbias/2009/02/an-afr... .
I'm a little unsure about how much is the myths and how much is just survivorship bias. A lot of old gruesome European fairy tales stopped getting told after the rise of liberalism and the free market, so it may just be that the myths reflect the current status of society.
Re: The Weaver, the Princess and Goldman Sachs
#19I wonder if myths like this explain some fraction of a country's economic growth. I suspect that in Europe, this kind of myth would end with the perpetrator being executed for lying and committing heresy; even the Geek myths wouldn't have a god show up to make good on someone else's bogus promises.
Geek myths
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Re: The Weaver, the Princess and Goldman Sachs
#20What is good collection of these Indian myths? Is there one akin to One Thousand and One Arabian Nights; with more focus on India?
There are quite few disparate collections of stories and myths from India.
My suggestion would be to start with the Mahabharata, it is a whole literature in itself and is at par with some of the best in the world.
Start with a summarised version(The version by C Rajagopalachari is quite popular) and if you like it you can explore it in-depth with the version by van Buitenen or Kisari Mohan Ganguli.