Brigham Young had 47 children, and over 50 women as wives.

Some people recovering from drugs or alcohol stay with the programs indefinitely, making the recovery program their family, a long-term source of attention rewards.

I much prefer the modern world.

The rare person is still interested in new advances when they are adults. There is possibly a correlation with intelligence. In any case, you have to be fairly bright to keep learning and changing attitudes as you get older.

People repeat behaviour that leads to flooding their brains with pleasurable chemicals. The short-term reward loop acts over hours to years, and the long-term reproductive success loop over generations.

Could people be trained to be less gullible? Or are you as stuck with gullibility as you are with skin colour?

Even small cults are a serious cost on the world economy, to victims, their families, employers, friends, and credit-card companies.