Bed that saved me from the Taliban • Hacker News Board

Re: Bed that saved me from the Taliban

#91

Post by dennisgorelik » Mon, Jan 21, 2019, 6:42 PM UTC

toufiqbarhamov wrote: post #75

ddoran wrote: post #74

I strongly recommend "The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes - and Why" by Amanda Ripley [1]. It is a terrific look of the character traits and behavior of people who survive life-threatening circumstances and those who don't. [1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2706211-the-unthinkable

One thing that struck me about this story was that he made some good decisions and some bad ones, but as he points out he got really lucky a bunch of times. None of his habits would have mattered if he’d been in the restaurant, if he’d have been in the wrong room, picked the wrong bed to hide under, or hadn’t moved just out of the way of a sniper’s bullet, and if a tank had fired on his room. It’s easy to assume that…

> It’s easy to assume that a given set of habits correlate with survival

It is a correct assumption.

I survived this attack ... by not going to Afghanistan.

Re: Bed that saved me from the Taliban

#92

Post by beaconstudios » Mon, Jan 21, 2019, 6:50 PM UTC

sjroot wrote: post #40

elliekelly wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And to have the bad guy quite literally sitting on top of you. I cannot imagine the mental fortitude it takes to maintain your composure to keep perfectly still and silent in that situation.

Right! I did think it was interesting that he said this adrenaline rush made it difficult to keep from laughing. It seems completely inappropriate, but makes sense at the same time. "Really, this is happening to me right now?"

Laughing can be a nervous or awkward reaction as well as the usual. I don't know if this is universal but I and others sometimes get a compulsion to laugh when told bad news.

Re: Bed that saved me from the Taliban

#93

Post by ranprieur » Mon, Jan 21, 2019, 6:53 PM UTC

> Each time they would laugh afterwards, like they were just playing around, or like it was a big party or something.

Terrorists in TV and movies are never like this. They're always super-serious evil, like Voldemort, like nobody ever is in real life. I wonder how much violence could be prevented if Hollywood didn't give us such a bullshit view of human nature.

Re: Bed that saved me from the Taliban

#94

Post by jackhammer2022 » Mon, Jan 21, 2019, 6:54 PM UTC

ddoran wrote: post #74

I strongly recommend "The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes - and Why" by Amanda Ripley [1]. It is a terrific look of the character traits and behavior of people who survive life-threatening circumstances and those who don't. [1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2706211-the-unthinkable

I haven't gone through your link yet, but sounds like Survivorship Bias here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias

Re: Bed that saved me from the Taliban

#95

Post by scotty79 » Mon, Jan 21, 2019, 6:58 PM UTC

soyyo wrote: post #30

According to his tale, he was almost killed by special forces snipers. I know you could not blame them due to the confusion, but it would have been terrible to survive the attackers just to be killed by the people that were supposed to save you.

I read this as more of a tale of a man that fell into the insides of a machine and managed to hide in a crack to avoid getting crushed untill the machine stopped its course.

This kind of attack and response is like mad contraption fueled by old human stupidity and borderline futuristic deadly powerful technology.

As a civilian you are supposed to keep very safe distance from such a powerful tech but someone, somewhere gets inevitably confronted with it mixed with a dash or a lot of human stupidity and most often dies.

Re: Bed that saved me from the Taliban

#96

Post by sfilargi » Mon, Jan 21, 2019, 7:00 PM UTC

ddoran wrote: post #74

I strongly recommend "The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes - and Why" by Amanda Ripley [1]. It is a terrific look of the character traits and behavior of people who survive life-threatening circumstances and those who don't. [1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2706211-the-unthinkable

From the original story sounds like one of the traits you have to have is luck. Lots and lots of luck.

Re: Bed that saved me from the Taliban

#97

Post by jdietrich » Mon, Jan 21, 2019, 7:05 PM UTC

wiradikusuma wrote: post #37

"Parts of the hotel were able to re-open two months after the attack" — what? Curious, what would be the logical explanation for that? I mean, for starters nobody would want to work there, and nobody would want to _stay_ there. Right?

Afghanistan has been at war since 1978. The Kabul Intercontinental Hotel was partially destroyed by shelling in the 1990s. It was attacked by suicide bombers in 2011, then again by gunmen in 2018. That's completely typical for a landmark building in Kabul.

If the Afghan people abandoned everywhere that had been the scene of an atrocity, there would be few places left to go.

Re: Bed that saved me from the Taliban

#98

Post by ricardobeat » Mon, Jan 21, 2019, 7:29 PM UTC

simplecomplex wrote: post #89

runjake wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a hotel in Afghanistan, a country presently immersed in turmoil.

It had already been attacked and was full of international guests. In the capital city. 4-5 guys should not be able to take complete control of the hotel with no heavy weaponry. That means security is deficient or non-existent.

What kind of daily security setup can protect against 5 gunmen with AK47s?

Re: Bed that saved me from the Taliban

#99

Post by dehrmann » Mon, Jan 21, 2019, 7:30 PM UTC

sjroot wrote: post #8

Incredible, to be hiding under one of two beds in his hotel room, and having the other bed being searched and shot at by the Taliban. > Don't concentrate only on work, stressful and bad things in your life. Concentrate instead on creating good moments and being around good people, because life is so beautiful.

Not to belittle anything he went through, but don't discount survivorship bias.

Re: Bed that saved me from the Taliban

#100

Post by ip26 » Mon, Jan 21, 2019, 7:35 PM UTC

elliekelly wrote: post #35

sjroot wrote: post #8

Incredible, to be hiding under one of two beds in his hotel room, and having the other bed being searched and shot at by the Taliban. > Don't concentrate only on work, stressful and bad things in your life. Concentrate instead on creating good moments and being around good people, because life is so beautiful.

And to have the bad guy quite literally sitting on top of you. I cannot imagine the mental fortitude it takes to maintain your composure to keep perfectly still and silent in that situation.

You've got systems or exceptions buried deep in you to help in those kinds of circumstances, IMO. For example, my sense of claustrophobia almost completely vanishes when I'm getting really cold.