The following is an answer and/or comment by inhahe aka ColorStorm (inhahe.com - myriachromat.wordpress.com).

Does anyone believe that the world is run by a group of people like the Illuminati?

I think there are so many more-or-less independently powerful people, groups, and other forces in the world that it’s impossible that one single group might essentially rule it all, especially given that they’d have to somehow keep it all a secret. And I’ve yet to see one piece of evidence pointing to there being an Illuminati or similar.

I think people just like to think that it’s all controlled by one group because it’s comforting or convenient or something. I have a few theories on why people are attracted to such beliefs:

  • If all/most of society's main problems are intentionally due to a specific agency, then that provides an easy fix: just somehow stop that agency from doing that.
  • Maybe it's related to how we tend to like to our propensity for anthropomorphism, pareidolia, etc.: we just like to see humans in things.
  • Maybe it’s because we like our suffering to have meaning to it, which would be satisfied if our suffering is somehow due to living, breathing enemies rather than blind, mechanical or incidental forces.
  • Maybe it’s because we want a vent for the frustration and pain of our suffering, and that vent is hatred, and that hatred requires a target.
  • Or, probably, it's just because we like to make stories to explain things, especially important and inherently mysterious things like the most fundamental causes of our suffering, and the easiest things to make stories about are people and their intentions.