Exactly, my favourite types of conversation are usually about some specific thing that is not necessarily "deep" at all, be it a programming language feature or

Exactly, my favourite types of conversation are usually about some specific thing that is not necessarily "deep" at all, be it a programming language feature or the troubled life of some historical character, or the reasons behind the prevalence of some observed phenomenon (like the colour spectrums of movie posters, say). When discussing something fairly simple with an intelligent generalist, it's usually really stimulating not because they have some deeper perspective, but because you get carried away and stumble upon new ideas and crazy thoughts that you would never have come across on your own. Discussing philosophy proper is usually quite boring and not stimulating at all - that's what you have books for imo.