We all know about the psychopath's enhanced killer instinct, their finely tuned vulnerability antennae.

我们都知道精神病患者有更强的杀手本能 他们对脆弱异常敏感

But it may surprise you to know that there are some situations in which psychopaths are actually more adept at saving lives than they are at taking them.

但你可能会很惊讶 在某些情况下 精神病患者其实更擅长拯救生命而不是剥夺生命

So, let me give you an example of what I mean by that.

我来举个例子说明一下

Imagine you've got a train and it's hurtling down a track.

想象有一列火车在极速前进

In its path, five people are trapped on the line and cannot escape.

前方有五个人被困在火车轨道上 无法逃脱

Fortunately you can flick a switch which diverts the train down a fork in that track, away from those five people but at a price.

幸运的是 你可以转动按钮 让火车开到岔道上 避开那五个人 但也要付出代价

There is another person trapped down that fork and the train will kill them instead.

那条岔道上也有一个人 火车会立马把他压死

Though the thought of flicking the switch isn't exactly a nice one, the utilitarian choice, as it were, killing just the one person instead of the five represents the least worst option.

虽然转动按钮的想法也不太善良 但从实用的角度来看 杀死一个人而不是五个人是最好的选择

But now let me give you a variation.

现在咱们再来变一下

You've got a train speeding out of control down a track and it's going to plow into five people on the line.

有一列火车超速行驶在轨道上 马上就要压死前面的五个人了

But this time you are standing behind a very large stranger on a footbridge above that track.

这时候 你站在一个很胖的陌生人后面 你俩都在火车轨道上方的人行天桥上

The only way to save the people is to heave the stranger over.

救下那五个人的唯一办法就是把这个陌生人推下去

While the score in lives is precisely the same as in the first scenario—five to one—one's choice of action appears far trickier.

虽然从生命的数量上来说跟第一种情况是一样的——5:1——但这个选择更让人为难

Now, why should that be? Well, the reason, it turns out, all boils down to temperature, okay.

为什么呢？原因都归结于人类是有温度的动物

Case one represents what we might call an impersonal dilemma.

在第一种情况中 我们把它叫做客观困境

It involves those areas of the brain primarily responsible for what we call cold empathy.

它需要大脑中负责“冷同理心”的部分参与

For reasoning and rational thought.

负责推理和理性思维

Case two on the other hand represents what we might call a personal dilemma.

在第二种情况中 它代表的是我们所说的个人困境

It involves the emotion center of the brain known as the amygdala, the circuitry of hot empathy,

它需要大脑杏仁核这个情绪中心 即“热同理心”回路

what we might call the feeling of feeling what another person is feeling.

我们可以称之为感受别人的感受的感受

Now, psychopaths, just like most normal members of the population, have no trouble at all with case one.

在第一种情况下 精神病患者跟多数正常人一样 没有任何选择困难

They flick the switch and the train diverts accordingly killing just the one person instead of the five.

他们会转动按钮 让火车改变轨道 杀死那一个人而不是五个

But, this is where the plot thickens.

但这时候情况就变复杂了

Quite unlike normal members of the population, psychopaths also experience little difficulty with case two.

与正常人不同的是 精神病患者在第二种情况下几乎也没什么困难

Psychopaths, without a moment's hesitation, are perfectly willing to chuck the fat guy over the rails if that's what the doctor orders.

如果这是医生的命令 精神病患者会毫不犹豫地把那个胖家伙推到火车轨道上

Now, moreover, this difference in behavior has a distinct neural signature.

另外 这种行为差异有一个非常明显的神经信号