From Wikipedia-
"Timothy Brown argues that Dr. Sevrin is "a clear stand-in for Timothy Leary." Like the acolytes of Leary, Charles Manson, and other counter-culture leaders, Sevrin's followers are "under the spell of charismatic but dangerously unhinged leaders" and "stand for a sixties generation in the thrall of misled idealism."
"Timothy Brown argues that Dr. Sevrin is "a clear stand-in for Timothy Leary." Like the acolytes of Leary, Charles Manson, and other counter-culture leaders, Sevrin's followers are "under the spell of charismatic but dangerously unhinged leaders" and "stand for a sixties generation in the thrall of misled idealism."