Working definition. Consensus is an achieved alignment around action or judgment. It is not unanimity, harmony, or proof that the majority is right.
Inherited meaning
Deliberative, Indigenous, civic, and organisational traditions use different forms of consensus to transform disagreement into legitimate common action. Poor consensus suppresses difference for the appearance of unity; mature consensus records reservations and preserves routes for reconsideration.
Meaning in the imagination economy
AI can summarise many voices into one fluent centre, creating synthetic agreement where genuine deliberation never occurred. Consensus after AI must remain a human achievement: participants understand the issue, influence the terms, and know how the final decision relates to their position. Consent concerns participation; consensus concerns collective direction.
What changes in practice
Make the decision rule explicit. Preserve dissent beside the synthesis, distinguish “can live with” from “fully endorse,” and define what new evidence would reopen the question.