I can relate to much of what he said. I find that most people are socially tiring, though I have a small network of friends I dont mind hanging out with long term. The metaphor of gasping for air in a fog of contentless conversation is a great way to put it. I was at dinner last night and remember counting the empty sentences of one of the people at my table.

I am also usually pretty quiet in meetings where people are hashing ideas out. I usually like to think things through before speaking from a place of authority on them, which for me means doing a proof of concept and assessing the problems at that point. I personally hate being wrong on a "guess".