As I have found this topic untouched by evolutionary psychology (please correct me if I am wrong), I will offer my amateurish view.
People love to stock and read hundreds of books about famous people. They want to be just like them, want to be close to them and gain their attention.
The hunger-gathering groups had around 100 members (this number, of course, can be disputed). Not only the “famous” person was around you, but you may have observed his methods, skills, personality traits and then emulate him or her.
He had desirable sexual partners around him. He had scarce resources, power and notoriety. Everything that benefits your evolutionary fitness.
But this has worked in small groups. Of course, personality traits such as IQ appeared even in those times, but we have now 8.1 billion people on this planet.
Not only is the given individual not around you, but since the sample is – compared to those times – extremely large, we have people with IQs of 160 or 180 (these are extremely rare intellect values, this first one has 1 in 30 000, the second one in 20 million; some you definitely couldn’t encounter in an average hunter-gatherer group). And as classical psychology clearly demonstrates, your IQ is connected with talent and creativity.
You may be as close to Elon Musk as you want, but you cannot raise your IQ, or emulate his talents or creativity.
Societal factors (social mobility, for example) also predestine you somewhere, something you can barely change. And what about reading books about the likes of Warren Buffett or George Soros? Do you really think they would reveal their know-how? The same goes for start-up companies.
People may try to emulate some historical figure, but he may have the above-mentioned features but the other issue is he may have been in the historical period that simply makes you famous (Winston Churchill) or the background of politics was on your side.
Of course, when you are an investing pal of Warren Buffett, you will gain some knowledge. Befriending Taylor Swift brings you to entirely different circles. But the range of these effects is limited so our animalistic instincts are ever-lasting.
Famous figures like Elon Musk continue to captivate us due to the deep-seated evolutionary roots that tie our behavior to ancestral survival strategies. Evolutionary psychology offers a lens through which we can understand our obsession with celebrity, although the complexities of modern society and the widening variance in human capabilities have transformed the dynamics of replication. Our fascination with fame serves as a reminder of the enduring influence of our evolutionary past on our present-day aspirations.
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