Intelligent people are easier to recruit into cults. They're better at justifying their beliefs, operating in a state of doubt, finding ways of making statements make sense, etc

Intelligent people, at their most psychologigally vulnerable, are the easiest to recruit, and the ones least likely to be swayed by argument or evidence that they've joined a cult.

If you're used to being the smartest person in the room, odds are you're the easiest person to recruit.

Makes you think about how education systems deal with gifted kids differently, no? How the whole educational and career pipeline operates for intelligent people versus the average?

The most intelligent person in the room, is the most likely to have decades worth of subtle and not subtle indoctrination.

Consider how traumatizing leaving a cult is, how much of a blow it is to self-image.

Suddenly all those jokes about gifted kids hit different.

Those adults struggling with the psychological fallout of those programs, are the ones who somehow escaped, deprogrammed themselves, created a new self-image.

The smartest person in the room is either indoctrinated and can explain at length why he's not, or miserable and busy playing with a laser pointer.