Smalltalk is social exploration. Maybe a better word might be social probing. In this stage, you can't go directly to the point, because smalltalk is useful onl

Smalltalk is social exploration. Maybe a better word might be social probing. In this stage, you can't go directly to the point, because smalltalk is useful only in evaluating the point of a future conversation with the same partner. Of course, people that think "no point yet" = "not valuable ever" might want to pursue philosophical nihilism until terminal depression. But I digress.