People can undergo a sudden change of thinking and loyalties under threat of death or intense social pressure and isolation from friends and family.

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

Children do not have to learn that streets are dangerous places by potentially fatal trial and error.

Evolution acts slowly. Our psychological characteristics today are those that promoted reproductive success in the ancestral environmen.

Successful cult memes induce intense social interaction behaviour between cult members. This trips the attention detectors.

Trying to control information in the network age is about as successful as pissing into the wind.

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.