I know a girl who is of above average intelligence, who totally buys into Silvia Browne's bullshit. She tells me she really wants one of her over the phone readings.

people allow themselves to be duped when it's something they want to believe in

How much do those readings cost? Have her try to contact your "father", Tom Wayne, who was murdered outside a movie theater years ago. It could go one of three ways:

1) Silvia Browne fails to contact Thomas Wayne's spirit and so doesn't disprove herself.

2) Silvia Browne "contacts" Thomas Wayne and your friend realizes that Silvia Browne is a fake.

3) Silvia Browne contacts Thomas Wayne and you are actually Batman.

I know a smarter than average guy who believes in ki and astral projection, and I'm also pretty sure he's a closet libertarian. Intelligence doesn't mean shit.

I know more than a few people who believe that their afterlife experience hinges upon kangaroo court proceedings 2000 years ago in the Middle East. I can't hold that against them in and of itself. It's when they use their religious beliefs as grounds to treat other people shittily that I take objection.

What does "belief in ki" mean. It's a training concept. If you're talking about Street Fighter ki balls and other bullshido, that's one thing, but ki is a concept dancers and athletes use (often without knowing it) to talk about sensation and manipulation of of kinetic energy and breath within and between bodies. The spiritual stuff is just dressing to make people feel good about learning how to kill people with their bare hands.
It really doesn't take much to demonstrate "ki" in a dojo setting, and nobody is saying that it can't be explained with physics. Unfortunately it's fallen into the hands of the New Age movement, and they fuck up everything.

The middle ground, where it's a training concept but also a literal force that physically exists.

The kind of person who is actually pretty good at martial arts but also watches "Mind, Body and Kickass Moves" unironically.

It's that kind of logic that keep payday loans legal.

only if larry king is there watching.