When a hundred men stand together, each of them loses his mind and gets another one.

Crowds do not simply amplify what people already think; they replace it. Standing inside a group, your sense of what is obvious quietly shifts to match the room, and the shift feels like your own reasoning rather than something borrowed. It is not stupidity, it is belonging doing its work, which is why intelligent people are not protected from it.

The test is what you think when you are alone and nobody will hear the answer. Before the next meeting or group chat where a position is forming, write down your view privately. Compare it afterwards with what you said out loud, and take the gap seriously.