It’s worth noting: I fall pretty cleanly in the “smalltalk is a useful skill and social lubrication ritual” camp, and I think it’s pretty achievable to get the best of both worlds here.
The exchange “how are you” --> “you just opened up a whole can of worms” --> [Whatever Comes Next] is actually pretty reasonable. Person A showcases that they’re at least somewhat interested in interacting. Person B makes a bid for “I’d like to have a bit of a heart-to-heart as opposed to a low-key-professional-interaction”. Person A now has the ability to say either:
“Oh, I’m happy to open up a can of worms”,
or,
“Oh man, hope you’re okay. [ “I’m not sure I can dive into that right now” / “I have to get going in a few minutes but interested in the medium-version if that exists” / etc]
This seems pretty close to how SmallTalkAsSocialRitual is supposed to work, with the main difference between rationalist and typical-society versions being that the Regular Society version would replace some of the direct-question-ness with subtler facial expressions.
It’s worth noting: I fall pretty cleanly in the “smalltalk is a useful skill and social lubrication ritual” camp, and I think it’s pretty achievable to get the best of both worlds here.
The exchange “how are you” --> “you just opened up a whole can of worms” --> [Whatever Comes Next] is actually pretty reasonable. Person A showcases that they’re at least somewhat interested in interacting. Person B makes a bid for “I’d like to have a bit of a heart-to-heart as opposed to a low-key-professional-interaction”. Person A now has the ability to say either:
“Oh, I’m happy to open up a can of worms”,
or,
“Oh man, hope you’re okay. [ “I’m not sure I can dive into that right now” / “I have to get going in a few minutes but interested in the medium-version if that exists” / etc]
This seems pretty close to how SmallTalkAsSocialRitual is supposed to work, with the main difference between rationalist and typical-society versions being that the Regular Society version would replace some of the direct-question-ness with subtler facial expressions.