**Looking at the origins and evolution of the Illuminati as a movement, it's clear that it grew from a genuine secret society into the ultimate conspiracy theory.** - When the Illuminati began is sometimes debated about, but it's on record as [being formed in the 18th century by Adam Weishaupt] (https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/history-magazine/article/profile-adam-weishaupt-illuminati-secret-society), who modelled it on [the fraternal Freemasons society] (https://www.britannica.com/topic/order-of-Freemasons). It grew fairly rapidly, but then a law was passed making secret societies punishable by death, and it disassembled. The theory is that the Illuminati just went underground, and these rumours persist into the modern-day. - Later, [in the 1960s] (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/22/what-is-illuminati-google-autocomplete), a resurgence of talk about the movement was linked to two writers, Robert Anton Wilson and Kerry Thornley, who are said to have sent contradictory letters about the Illuminati to papers. This was apparently in an effort to ["get people to view the news a little more sceptically,"] (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/22/what-is-illuminati-google-autocomplete) but instead it just ignited new interest in the secret society. - In its current, internet-based understanding, [the Illuminati is often linked with pop culture figures] (https://www.theweek.co.uk/62399/what-is-the-illuminati-and-what-does-it-control) like Beyonce and Katy Perry, something that is fanned by their inclusion of symbols and references in their work. Rather than being actual evidence, though, it's likely that these references consciously feed into the public narrative as publicity tools. - It's also interesting that celebrities like Beyonce, who is notably very private, become the main objects of these conspiracies. As figures who are constantly on our radar but who we know little about, they are the perfect models on which to impose our desire for a greater understanding of the world. - And the Illuminati - as a powerful group of people conspiring to rule the world - is kind of the ultimate conspiracy theory. It's far more wide-reaching than other popular conspiracies like the Moon Landing hoax or 9/11. 'Signs' of Illuminati involvement can pop up almost anywhere. - The ability to notice and read patterns onto the world has been hugely beneficial for human development: ["pattern-seeking is essential for our survival, and the penalties for seeing patterns where none exist are lighter than those for missing patterns that are really there."] (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/14/illuminati-running-world-not-mad-idea-questioning-hidden-power-elites-sane) - However, it can be a slippery slope from noticing genuine systemic injustices, like the global financial elite, to believing in things like the Illuminati. We often see small and elitist groups exercising significant but limited power; the jump from this to a belief in such groups exercising total power is not impossible to conceive. - Ultimately - when we can't understand such data-based disciplines through which to make the world seem less messy and more orderly, like economics, it is ["little wonder that we resort to quicker, dirtier ways of making the world comprehensible".] (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/14/illuminati-running-world-not-mad-idea-questioning-hidden-power-elites-sane) The Illuminati is very likely not real. But it is natural for us to be drawn in by it, and for it to have maintained its popularity.

IF, and that's the key word, IF they exist they would be. If thet do exist but don't conspire to rule, what's the point of existing?