A shadow contract is one of few mechanisms to enter large-scale consensus (it isn't THAT large when compared to a solar or galactic scale, but large enough for planetary control, and with some clever management, can scale larger).
You don't know that, I've seen shadow contracts that apply to intergalactic scales. I would wager they can be used for interdimensional organisations
Yes it is, it's essentially giving people with children extra votes to use.
Sure, but I want mature enough at 18 either. A lot of people aren't mature enough at 40 to fully comprehend what they're voting for. We don't enfranchise people with votes based on their level of knowledge though, we do it if they're considered active members of society - and 16 year olds are considered adults in a large amount of their day-to-day life
Who do you think makes all the gifts for Santa?
Whilst WhatsApp is still owned by meta and I'm sure the US military would have a lot use for the metadata they collect, let's be honest, I'm sure Putin would prefer if Russians switched to a platform they can spy on themselves