I'm a neuroscientist, a professor at the University of California. And over the past 35 years, I've studied behavior on the basis of everything from genes through neurotransmitters, dopamine, things like that, all the way through circuit analysis. So that's what I normally do. But then, for some reason, I got into something else, just recently. And it all grew out of one of my colleagues asking me to analyze a bunch of brains of psychopathic killers.
Sunt specialist in domeniul neurostiintei, profesor la Universitatea din California. In ultimii 35 de ani, am studiat comportamentul pornind de la gene la neurotransmitatori, dopamina, chestii de astea, pana la analiza circuitelor. Deci asta fac in mod normal. Dar apoi,pentru un motiv, M-am apucat de altceva, acum recent. Si totul a pornit de cand un coleg de-al meu ma rugat sa analizez niste creiere ale unor ucigasii psihopati.
And so this would be the typical talk I would give. And the question is, "How do you end up with a psychopathic killer?" What I mean by psychopathic killer are these people, these types of people. And so some of the brains that I've studied are people you know about. When I get the brains I don't know what I'm looking at. It's blind experiments. They also gave me normal people and everything.
Si cam asta ar fi discursul tipic pe care l-as tine. Si intrebarea e ,"Cum ajungi sa ai un ucigas psihopat?" Ce vreau sa spun prin ucigas psihopat sunt acesti oameni, aceste tipuri de oameni. Printre creierele studiate sunt si creiere ale unor oameni cunoscuti de voi. Cand primesc creierele nu stiu la ce ma uit. Acestea erau experimente oarbe.Mi-au dat si creiere de oameni normali.
So I've looked at about 70 of these. And what came up was a number of pieces of data. So we look at these sorts of things theoretically, on the basis of genetics, and brain damage, and interaction with environment, and exactly how that machine works. So we're interested in exactly where in the brain, and what's the most important part of the brain. So we've been looking at this: the interaction of genes, what's called epigenetic effects, brain damage, and environment, and how these are tied together. And how you end up with a psychopath, and a killer, depends on exactly when the damage occurs. It's really a very precisely timed thing. You get different kinds of psychopaths.
M-am uitat la vreo 70 de creiere. Si am obtinut niste informatii. Si ne uitam la aceste lucruri din perspectiva teoretica, in materie de genetica, si de gradul de leziune al creierului, si de modul de interactiune cu mediul inconjurator, si cum functioneaza masinaria respectiva exact. Si ne intereseaza unde anume in creier, si care e cea mai importanta parte a creierului. Si ne uitam la asta. Interactiunea genelor, care sunt numite efecte epigenetice, leziuni ale creierului,ale mediului inconjurator, si ce legatura au acestea intre ele. Si cum ajungi sa ai un criminal, un psihopat, depinde de cand apar leziunile. O chestie care tine foarte mult de timp. Ai feluri diferite de psihopati.
So we're going along with this. And here's, just to give you the pattern. The pattern is that those people, every one of them I looked at, who was a murderer, and was a serial killer, had damage to their orbital cortex, which is right above the eyes, the orbits, and also the interior part of the temporal lobe. So there is the pattern that every one of them had, but they all were a little different too. They had other sorts of brain damage. A key thing is that the major violence genes, it's called the MAO-A gene.
Sa continuam cu asta. Si sa va dau un exemplu. Un tipar care aparea la acesti oameni, la fiecare dintre cei studiati, care erau ucigasi, si care erau criminali in serie, aveau leziuni in zona cortexului orbital. Care se afla chiar deasupra ochilor, orbitelor, si in partea interioara a lobului temporal. Acesta este tiparul pe care fiecare din ei il avea, dar aveau totusi si niste diferente. Aveau si alt tip de leziuni cerebrale. Un lucru esential este efectul genelor principale ale violentei, cum ar fi gena MAO-A.
And there is a variant of this gene that is in the normal population. Some of you have this. And it's sex-linked. It's on the X chromosome. And so in this way you can only get it from your mother. And in fact this is probably why mostly men, boys, are psychopathic killers, or are very aggressive. Because a daughter can get one X from the father, one X from the mother, it's kind of diluted out. But for a son, he can only get the X chromosome from his mother.
Si exista o varianta a acestei gene si la populatia normala. Unii dintre voi o aveti. Tine de sex. E pe cromozomul X. Si astfel il puteti mosteni doar de la mama. Si de asta probabil mai mult barbatii sunt criminali psihopati, sau sunt foarte agresivi. Deoarece o fata poate mostenii un cromozom X de la tata, si un cromozom X de la mama, si se amesteca. Dar un baiat, el poate lua cromozomul X doar de la mama.
So this is how it's passed from mother to son. And it has to do with too much brain serotonin during development, which is kind of interesting because serotonin is supposed to make you calm and relaxed. But if you have this gene, in utero your brain is bathed in this, so your whole brain becomes insensitive to serotonin, so it doesn't work later on in life.
In acest mod e mostenit de la mama la fiu. Si asta se intampla din cauza serotoninei in exces din creier, in timpul dezvoltarii Ceea ce e interesant deoarece serotonina ar trebui sa te calmeze si sa te relaxeze. Dar daca ai aceasta gena, in uter creierul tau este inconjurat de serotonina. Si asa creierul devine insensibil la serotonina. Si nu o sa mai functioneze mai tarziu de-a lungul vietii.
And I'd given this one talk in Israel, just this past year. And it does have some consequences. Theoretically what this means is that in order to express this gene, in a violent way, very early on, before puberty, you have to be involved in something that is really traumatic -- not a little stress, not being spanked or something, but really seeing violence, or being involved in it, in 3D. Right? That's how the mirror neuron system works.
Am avut aceasta conversatie in Israel, chiar anul trecut. Si are niste consecinte. Teoretic asta inseamna ca pentru ca aceasta gena sa isi faca simtita prezenta intr-un mod violent, inainte de pubertate, trebuie sa fi fost implicat in ceva traumatizant, nu un pic de stres, sau sa fi fost urecheat putin sau ceva de genu asta. Ci sa fi vazut ceva violent, sau sa ti se fi intamplat tie personal. Da? Asa functioneaza sistemul neuronal oglinda.
And so, if you have that gene, and you see a lot of violence in a certain situation, this is the recipe for disaster, absolute disaster. And what I think might happen in these areas of the world, where we have constant violence, you end up having generations of kids that are seeing all this violence. And if I was a young girl, somewhere in a violent area, you know, a 14 year old, and I want to find a mate, I'd find some tough guy, right, to protect me. Well what the problem is this tends to concentrate these genes. And now the boys and the girls get them. So I think after several generations, and here is the idea, we really have a tinderbox.
Deci, daca aveti aceasta gena, si vedeti multa violenta intr-o anumita situatie e o reteta pentru dezastru, dezastru absolut. Si ce cred ca o sa se intample in unele zone ale lumii, unde exista violenta in mod constant, o sa ajungi sa ai generatii de copii care vad atata violenta. Daca as fi fost o fetita , undeva intr-o zona violenta, de vreo 14 ani, si as vrea sa imi gasesc un prieten, Mi-as gasi un tip dur, nu? Sa ma protejeze. Problema e ca acest lucru aduna acest tip de gene la un loc. Si acum atat baietii cat si fetele le au. Si cred ca dupa cateva generatii, si asta e ideea, avem o dilema.
So that was the idea. But then my mother said to me, "I hear you've been going around talking about psychopathic killers. And you're talking as if you come from a normal family." I said, "What the hell are you talking about?" She then told me about our own family tree. Now she blamed this on my father's side, of course. This was one of these cases, because she has no violence in her background, but my father did.
Si asta era ideea. Dar apoi mi-a spus, "Am auzit ca vorbesti despre criminali. Si vorbesti de parca tu ai proveni dintr-o familie normala." Eu am spus, "Despre ce naiba vorbesti ?" Apoi mi-a spus despre arborele genealogic al familiei nostre. Si a dat vina pe rudele din partea tatalui ,desigur. Asta era unul din cazurile alea, pentru ca ea nu a avut parte de violenta in trecut. In schimb tata da.
Well she said, "There is good news and bad news. One of your cousins is Ezra Cornell, founder of Cornell university. But the bad news is that your cousin is also Lizzie Borden.
A spus :" Sunt vesti bune si vesti proaste. Unul din verisorii tai este Ezra Cornell, fondatorul Universitatii Cornell. Vestea proasta e ca si Lizzi Borden este verisoara ta.
Now I said, "Okay, so what? We have Lizzie."
Eu am spus, "Bine si ? o avem pe Lizzi."
She goes, "No it gets worse, read this book."
Ea zice, "Stai ca devine mai rau , citeste aceasta carte."
And here is this "Killed Strangely," and it's this historical book. And the first murder of a mother by a son was my great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather. Okay, so that's the first case of matricide. And that book is very interesting. Because it's about witch trials, and how people thought back then.
Aici ai "Killed Strangely", care este o carte istorica. Si prima crima a unei mame ucisa de fiul ei , era stra-stra-stra-stra-bunicul meu. OK, acesta a fost primul caz de matricid. Si cartea asta e chiar interesanta.Pentru ca este vorba despre procesele cu vrajitoare, si despre cum gandeau oamenii in acele timpuri.
But it doesn't stop there. There were seven more men, on my father's side, starting then, Cornells, that were all murderers. Okay, now this gives one a little pause. (Laughter) Because my father himself, and my three uncles, in World War II, were all conscientious objectors, all pussycats. But every once in a while, like Lizzie Borden, like three times a century, and we're kind of due. (Laughter)
Dar nu se opreste aici Au mai fost inca sapte oameni din partea tatalui, incepand de atunci ,Cornell-si, au fost cu totii criminali. Ok ,acum am luat o pauza. (Rasete) Pentru ca chiar tatal meu, si cei trei unchi ai mei, in timpul celui de-al doilea razboi mondial, au refuzat sa faca stagiul militar, erau niste fricosi. Dar din cand in cand, precum Lizzie Borden,cam de trei ori pe secol, si noua ne-a cam venit randul. (Rasete)
So the moral of the story is: people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. But more likely is this. (Laughter) And we had to take action. Now our kids found out about it. And they all seemed to be OK. But our grandkids are going to be kind of concerned here. So what we've done is I've started to do PET scans of everybody in the family. (Laughter) We started to do PET scans, EEGs and genetic analysis to see where the bad news is. Now the only person -- it turns out one son and one daughter, siblings, didn't get along and their patterns are exactly the same. They have the same brain, and the same EEG. And now they are close as can be. But there's gonna be bad news somewhere. And we don't know where it's going to pop up. So that's my talk. (Laughter)
Morala povestii este: Cine se stie cu musca pe caciula sa nu critice pe altul. Dar mai probabil e asta. (Rasete) Si a trebuit sa luam masuri. Copiii nostri au aflat despre asta. Si toti par in regula. Dar nepotii nostri o sa fie ingrijorati. Asa ca am inceput sa le fac tomografii tuturor celor din familie. (Rasete) Am inceput sa facem tomografii,electroencefalograme, si analize genetice sa vedem unde e problema. Se pare ca singura persoana, un fiu si o fiica, frati nu se intelegeau.Si tiparele lor sunt exact la fel. Au acelasi creier, aceasi electroencefalograma. Si acum sunt mai apropiati ca niciodata. Dar pe parcurs o sa apara disensiuni. Si nu stim unde exact. Acesta a fost discursul meu. (Rasete)