Certainly a number of valid concerns here. Like any tool, polis is as good as its context, usage, data inputs. I can offer a specific case study with data, tha

Certainly a number of valid concerns here. Like any tool, polis is as good as its context, usage, data inputs. I can offer a specific case study with data, that deals with the discovery of the specific values of a specific population in the context of highly contested issue that has played out over a multi-decade period: A debrief: https://pep.org.nz/2020/12/01/doc-tries-to-restore-e-democracy/ https://pep.org.nz/2020/12/01/doc-tries-to-restore-e-democra... The professional facilitators who work at nation scale in NZ: https://pep.org.nz/ https://pep.org.nz/ The convo: https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1908/S00014/scoop-hivemind-protecting-and-restoring-biodiversity.htm https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1908/S00014/scoop-hivemind... The reporting: https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1911/S00063/biodiversity-hivemind-report-plenty-of-common-ground.htm https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1911/S00063/biodiversity-h... Raw data: https://github.com/compdemocracy/openData/tree/master/scoop-hivemind.biodiversity https://github.com/compdemocracy/openData/tree/master/scoop-... Direct link to PEP's report to the Ministry of Conservation: https://img.scoop.co.nz/media/pdfs/1911/Biodiversity_HiveMind_Final_Report_Scoop.pdf https://img.scoop.co.nz/media/pdfs/1911/Biodiversity_HiveMin... This is an ideal use case, but it is encouraging to us (and has motivated me over the course of the past decade) that given some combination of factors, there can be real progress, and while yes, it takes a bit of work, we do spend an enormous amount of time and money on worse outcomes than this. So, we can "save one starfish" https://raycenter.wp.drake.edu/2018/06/29/the-starfish-story/ https://raycenter.wp.drake.edu/2018/06/29/the-starfish-story... and put some lights on the horizon of other possible systems, should we inspire some millions, then tens of millions, then hundreds of millions to be spent on other political activities than driving wedges.