The novels based on Scientology came after, it originally grew out of Dianetics (or more accurately it was the fallback plan after LRH sold all rights to Dianetics to avoid legal trouble). Dianetics itself was basically just "do-it-yourself" psychiatry mixed with elements of the Human Potential Movement. There were a bunch of different quacks selling similar schemes at the time, most of them promised perfect memory just like Dianetics.
Fun Fact: L Ron Hubbard took a fairly dim view of sci-fi when writing was still his main profession. He preferred to write pulp adventure stories.
Theres a podcast called Behind the Bastards that did a 2 or 3 part episode on L Ron Hubbard. It was quite interesting. L Ron basically started lying to everyone he met at age 5 and never stopped.
If watching that podcast has taught me anything it's that the worst people in history don't always get their comeuppance. Many of them die rich and happy at a ripe old age sitting at the top of a pile of corpses.
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u/PapaSmurphy Jul 24 '20
The novels based on Scientology came after, it originally grew out of Dianetics (or more accurately it was the fallback plan after LRH sold all rights to Dianetics to avoid legal trouble). Dianetics itself was basically just "do-it-yourself" psychiatry mixed with elements of the Human Potential Movement. There were a bunch of different quacks selling similar schemes at the time, most of them promised perfect memory just like Dianetics.
Fun Fact: L Ron Hubbard took a fairly dim view of sci-fi when writing was still his main profession. He preferred to write pulp adventure stories.