[simurgh_beau]

Apologies for the very slow reply; I had mistakenly assumed this thread was inactive.

Hi discarded1023! Thank you for the kind words and for the excellent pointer to Professor Ehud Shapiro's work.

I've had a chance to look through his website. His work on designing protocols for large-scale collective decision-making is clearly very relevant and fascinating.

To your question, I think his protocols are very much aligned in spirit. The main difference in purpose seems to be that his models often focus on a group making a specific decision or recommendation. My project's immediate goal is slightly broader: to create a continuous, large-scale "map" of public opinion across many topics simultaneously. The underlying principles of fairness and structured debate, however, are very much the same.

Your note about his use of French political philosophy is also very insightful, and I'll keep that in mind as I explore his work further.

Thank you again for a very thoughtful and helpful pointer!