James liked to use the example of a train robbery. A pair of bandits rob an entire train of passengers because the robbers believe they can count on each other if they encounter trouble, while each passenger believes resisting means instant death, even though they outnumber the thugs a hundred to one. The result is a robbery. However, “if we believed that the whole carful would rise at once with us, we should each severally rise, and train-robbing would never even be attempted.”
