Feynman's observation about the Millikan oil drop experiment and subsequent cargo-cult science "confirmations" unfortunately demonstrate that very smart people (physicists) may be fooled in a black-and-white field (physics) for which they even have tremendous expertise. So how can we hope to come up with the correct answers for even harder questions in social science?
The one thing that could be smarter than a single human is a group of people discussing. The larger the group, the more difficult a question may be tackled. Thus, the most difficult questions may be posed to the entire population: an election.
This is how a democracy is supposed to work! People trying to get to the bottom of it, rather than people trying to convince each other.
Perhaps technology can help: natural language processing AI to moderate and coordinate discussion.
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