Eliezer, I think you have dissolved one of the most persistent and venerable mysteries: “How is it that even the smartest people can make such stupid mistakes”.
Michael Shermer wrote about that in “Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time”. In the question of smart people believing weird things, he essentially describes the same process as that Eliezer experienced: once smart people decide to believe a weird thing for whatever reason, it’s much harder to to convince them that their beliefs are flawed because they are that much better at poking holes in counterarguments.
Michael Shermer wrote about that in “Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time”. In the question of smart people believing weird things, he essentially describes the same process as that Eliezer experienced: once smart people decide to believe a weird thing for whatever reason, it’s much harder to to convince them that their beliefs are flawed because they are that much better at poking holes in counterarguments.