Ben,

The biggest flaw in your argument is to say that cults are not natural. Tell that to the antelope. It's not like one can just stop and scratch its ear. Tribes go really, really far back.

The real problem isn't their functionality, but taking them to extremes.

Language, social and civil rules, habits, etc. bind us as a larger social organism. On the most basic level what is going on is synchronization. One big wave is more efficient than lots of small waves. Think bicyclists slipstreaming one another. It's simply more efficient and effective to follow the same paths, than everyone totally branching out on their own.

The problem is when the grove starts to become a rut. When the positive feedback starts to turn negative. When the wave crests.

What balances synchronization is harmonization. When the energy radiates out across space, as the structure breaks down, it equalizes the system.

So it's that dichotomy of nodes and networks, organisms and ecosystems, particles and fields.

Earth exists somewhere in the middle, between the black hole at the center and the black body radiation smeared out across infinity. Where the feedback loops are the most complex.

So when the crowd goes from being a little crazy to actually spiraling down the rabbit hole, it's time to take the road less traveled.

History is that feedback between tradition and renewal. Order and energy.