Listen to small talk as if you have never heard it. The lines are remarkably few. There are perhaps thirty distinct exchanges that account for the vast majority of opening interactions between strangers and acquaintances. They have variations. The variations are also limited. This is not because people are incapable of saying interesting things. It is because the social system rewards the rapid execution of a known script. Deviating costs energy. Most people, most of the time, do not pay the cost. The invitation in the Codex is to occasionally pay it. Not to be a contrarian. Not to refuse pleasantries. But to ask, once in every twenty exchanges, a question that requires actual thought to answer. Watch what happens to the people you ask. Some will deflect. Some will pause. A few — the ones you are looking for — will brighten, because they have been waiting for someone to ask. Those are your people. Small talk is the test that filters them out. Asking better questions is the test that filters them in.