Is it a category error? I can see that if I blend linearly in one color space vs another space I'll get a different result. And if a try to cluster colors using one color space vs another I'll get different results. Surely the color space is relevant and my questions aren't completely non-sensical?

CAM16 can't be the best answer to all of them, can it? It's possible but I'd think some color spaces are better suited for some tasks than others.

Which CAM16 are we even talking about? A quick Google reveals CAM16 UCS, SCD and LCD.

CIELAB I've heard good things about but then OKLAB became all the rage and now I don't know what's better.