Brian Klaas

It gives you a lesson, I think, that the worst moments of your life are inextricably linked to the best moments of your life, and that the good and bads of our life end up creating future joy and future pain, and we can't do anything about that.

It gives you a lesson, I think, that the worst moments of your life are inextricably linked to the best moments of your life, and that the good and bads of our life end up creating future joy and future pain, and we can't do anything about that.

It gives you a lesson, I think, that the worst moments of your life are inextricably linked to the best moments of your life, and that the good and bads of our life end up creating future joy and future pain, and we can't do anything about that.

Yeah, I was studying the origin stories of a coup d'etat, a military takeover of the government. And the official version of events was that basically a drunken idiot had tried to take power from the Zambian military in 1997. So I went to figure out what had really happened. And what turned out to be the case was that the plot was a lot more sophisticated than I originally had realized.

Yeah, I was studying the origin stories of a coup d'etat, a military takeover of the government. And the official version of events was that basically a drunken idiot had tried to take power from the Zambian military in 1997. So I went to figure out what had really happened. And what turned out to be the case was that the plot was a lot more sophisticated than I originally had realized.

Yeah, I was studying the origin stories of a coup d'etat, a military takeover of the government. And the official version of events was that basically a drunken idiot had tried to take power from the Zambian military in 1997. So I went to figure out what had really happened. And what turned out to be the case was that the plot was a lot more sophisticated than I originally had realized.

So what they were planning to do was to kidnap the army commander, the top military general in Zambia. and force him at gunpoint to announce the coup on the radio.

So what they were planning to do was to kidnap the army commander, the top military general in Zambia. and force him at gunpoint to announce the coup on the radio.

So what they were planning to do was to kidnap the army commander, the top military general in Zambia. and force him at gunpoint to announce the coup on the radio.

That's exactly right. So that was the plan. And so I talked to some of the soldiers involved in the coup and I asked them what they did and they went out to the army commander's house in the middle of the night, something like three in the morning. And he sort of hears these noises and runs out, presumably in his pajamas, out the back of the compound and starts climbing up the wall.

That's exactly right. So that was the plan. And so I talked to some of the soldiers involved in the coup and I asked them what they did and they went out to the army commander's house in the middle of the night, something like three in the morning. And he sort of hears these noises and runs out, presumably in his pajamas, out the back of the compound and starts climbing up the wall.

That's exactly right. So that was the plan. And so I talked to some of the soldiers involved in the coup and I asked them what they did and they went out to the army commander's house in the middle of the night, something like three in the morning. And he sort of hears these noises and runs out, presumably in his pajamas, out the back of the compound and starts climbing up the wall.

And one of the soldiers I interviewed describes how he grabs the sort of pant leg or trouser leg of the army commander and the commander is pulling up on the wall trying to climb over and he's pulling down. And in this instant, the sort of fabric slips through his fingers.

And one of the soldiers I interviewed describes how he grabs the sort of pant leg or trouser leg of the army commander and the commander is pulling up on the wall trying to climb over and he's pulling down. And in this instant, the sort of fabric slips through his fingers.

And one of the soldiers I interviewed describes how he grabs the sort of pant leg or trouser leg of the army commander and the commander is pulling up on the wall trying to climb over and he's pulling down. And in this instant, the sort of fabric slips through his fingers.

And as a result, the commander clambers over the wall, rushes to the government house where the sort of government headquarters are and alerts them to this coup plot underway. So he slipped through their fingers by chance and the coup plot fails catastrophically. They find the ringleader hiding in a trash can three hours later. I mean, it's just like clownishly disastrous ending to the story.

And as a result, the commander clambers over the wall, rushes to the government house where the sort of government headquarters are and alerts them to this coup plot underway. So he slipped through their fingers by chance and the coup plot fails catastrophically. They find the ringleader hiding in a trash can three hours later. I mean, it's just like clownishly disastrous ending to the story.

And as a result, the commander clambers over the wall, rushes to the government house where the sort of government headquarters are and alerts them to this coup plot underway. So he slipped through their fingers by chance and the coup plot fails catastrophically. They find the ringleader hiding in a trash can three hours later. I mean, it's just like clownishly disastrous ending to the story.

But it taught me a lot about the way that we understand the world because what stuck with me and was always just sort of in the back of my mind when I was trying to practice social science as I do professionally is if they had just been a millisecond faster,

But it taught me a lot about the way that we understand the world because what stuck with me and was always just sort of in the back of my mind when I was trying to practice social science as I do professionally is if they had just been a millisecond faster,