All ponzi schemes start with smart people. The more complicated it is, the more "magical" it becomes for those that have been swayed. It's a religion for some, a cargo cult for others, and a grift machine for the criminals.
But scratch the surface and peer underneath, and you can see what it truly is.
We don't laugh at the people who started the ponzi schemes. We don't laugh at the people that lost their money and learned their lesson.
No, we laugh at the people who despite the clearest of clear headed reasoning still insist on wrapping their logic tighter than a pretzel. We may not all do it publically -- even though there are those that do -- but we do laugh, and are amazed how people got sucked into a tech cult.
