So, as a casual researcher of conspiracy theories, I obviously hear a lot about the Illuminati.

Can anyone explain to me what evidence there is that a philosophy club that presumably died out before 1800 still exists and is trying to take over the world?

Seriously, if not even Wikipedia can give me anything, I seriously doubt that they have anything to do with anything. Freemasons? Maybe. Bilderberg Group? Perhaps. Skull and Bones? Dunno what some Yale fraternity wants with the world, but eh, anything's possible. But a late eighteenth-century philosphy club that never gets mentioned outside of conspiracy theories? First give proof they even exist before you go around insisting that everyone with any importance is part of it.