Conversational processes can lead to unpredictable outcomes and new ways of people connecting with each other. People know this from their lived experience and there are now a variety of processes that enable complex issues to be addressed by groups of the order of a thousand. Open Space Technology is one example. Such processes promote inclusivity, openness and transparency, increasingly recognised as the prerequisites of good governance. There is a problem about what to call the process.
Debate is well defined and is seen as rigorous.
One solution is to attach an adjective to the word, such as respectful, conscious, providential, skilled, courageous. This is not satisfactory as each qualifier needs to be explained in each context in which it is used. This remarkable observation I made on a bus, just a few weeks ago. The word comes from the Latin con versare - to turn or dance together. I have used the term converse many times, in both written and oral discourse, and had not, until that moment on the bus, appreciated its potential significance.