"smart people" 
https://twitter.com/ESYudkowsky/status/1262838533120647168 …
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It isn't uncommon for above-average IQ people to join cults. The psychological mechanisms of attraction to cults are emotional, not intellectual. As for those who *lead* cults, they tend to be fairly high-IQ and they know what they're doing.
Side note: cults love cosmic thinking. "Here's the destiny of our universe / here's an evil threat that will destroy the Milky Way / we're descended from an alien race of Angels that lived millions of years ago in a different galaxy". You can never be grandiose enough.
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The bigger the claim, the more disconnected from reality, the easier it is to believe it (and the harder it is to refute it)
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I like sci-fi too. In particular sci-fi with grandiose, cosmic perspectives. It's what I consume instead of religion. Sometimes I let it influence my research directions. But not my immediate policy making.
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