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Denver Bullet Study

Lesson 13.1

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Agenda

Learning Goals
Review Questions
Glorin-Fuilder Firework Study
Campus Development
Final Question
Misinformation Pre-poll

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Learning Goals

After this lesson, you should

Be optimistic that a community can come together to make a decision, even when people begin with heterogeneous values and beliefs.
Be able to identify stakeholders and experts and distinguish between the values and facts of an issue.

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Learning Goals: Definitions

Stakeholders: The set of people who have a stake in the outcome of a decision. This can include people who will implement the decision and all the people affected by it.
Experts: The set of people who have the most knowledge/information/expertise about the facts relevant to the decision.
Denver Bullet Study: An experiment in group deliberation in which a community came together to share values and knowledge to make a decision about what kind of bullet the Denver Police should use, which had enough stopping power to keep cops safe but was not so harmful as to cause unnecessary damage to citizens (as did classic hollow bullets).

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Agenda

Learning Goals
Review Questions
Glorin-Fuilder Firework Study
Campus Development
Final Question
Misinformation Pre-poll

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Review Questions

Should we let experts make all policy decisions in society? Why or why not?
What is the role of values in the Denver Bullet Study?
What is the role of facts in the Denver Bullet Study?
How does the Denver Bullet Study synthesize facts and values in arriving at a group decision?
Suppose all policy decisions were made in a process like the Denver Bullet Study. Would such a country be a democracy or an epistocracy?

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Review Questions

Where do the values, facts, and synthesis appear on this diagram of the Denver Bullet Study?

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Review Questions

Where do the values, facts, and synthesis appear on this diagram of the Denver Bullet Study?

values

facts

synthesis

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Agenda

Learning Goals
Review Questions
Glorin-Fuilder Firework Study
Campus Development
Final Question
Misinformation Pre-poll

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Glorin-Fuilder Firework Study

How do we reconcile this?�(see handout)

Glorin wants this:

Fuilder wants this:

Suppose you are the advisor to Prince Kumperdinck of Glorin, who is trying to develop an agreement with the neighboring nation, Fuilder.

The bakers of Glorin, who live close to the Glorin-Fuilder border, have been repeatedly disrupted by Fuilder’s tendency to launch loud, bright fireworks late at night (this makes it difficult for the bakers to get up early to prepare the day’s bread). The bakers of Glorin believe that the residents of Fuilder should only be allowed to use small, silent sparklers, such as the “Warm Greetings.

The residents of Fuilder consider this solution inconceivable, because launching true fireworks each night is part of their cultural tradition and helps maintain the happiness of the nation. They have been using the “Fire Tornado” for over 100 years since its invention and they don’t want to relinquish such flamboyance that represents their culture.

There is rising tension between the citizens of Glorin and Fuilder, as neither side is willing to back down. Thinking back to your favorite class in advisor school, you recall a decision-making technique that involved integration of facts and values to come to a compromise in a similar scenario (the Denver Bullet Study). Prince Kumperdinck puts you in charge of implementing this technique. Your hope is that you can select a kind of firework that will make both parties optimally satisfied.

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Part 1: Diagramming the Study

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Part 1: Diagramming the Study

What are some factors of the choice of firework (resulting from the properties of the firework) that Glorin and Fuilder residents might value differently?
Assuming the only two relevant factors are the “brightness” and “loudness” as perceived from the ground, what might a Denver Bullet Study style framework look like?

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Part 1: Diagramming the Study

One possible framework diagram is shown on the right.

Remember, as advisor to Prince Kumperdinck, you only designed the basic study framework. You were not the expert brought in to decide how the properties of various specific fireworks (the “Scientific Data”) relate to the factors people assign value weightings to (the “Scientific Judgments”).

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Part 2: Compiling the Results

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Part 2: Compiling the Results

Who are the relevant stakeholders and experts? What are their roles in the decision making process?

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Part 2: Compiling the Results

	Goodness of Loudness	Goodness of Brightness
Average Fuilder Resident	1	10
Average Glorin Resident	-10	1

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Part 2: Compiling the Results

	Loudness Measured	Brightness Measured
Fire Tornado	8	10
Warm Greetings	2	3
Happy Flower	5	6
Dancing Butterfly	4	9

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