I don’t think the drop in the bucket argument is a strong one. That would invalidate a lot of prosocial behavior, such as voting in many elections.
I never had a problem (from my pov) of coming out on top in a discussion. But changing people’s hearts and minds is obviously harder. Did you ever feel like your words swayed someone to the good side?
This reminds me of the advanced spring powered devices in Syberia (the adventure game). I wonder if it is even remotely feasible to store that much power in springs, probably not.