Conversations as mental habits

Humans are good at thinking through one potential solution, checking it for errors, and if none are obvious, going with it. But we are notoriously bad at doing more: when making a decision, we rarely stop consider all options. Conversation in groups encourage this type of thought pattern. If you don’t talk fast enough, you are interrupted and derailed. The brain is encouraged to make connections as quickly as it can to have a response, sometimes even before the other person finishes their sentence. There are many other solid evolutionary arguments for sticking with the habit of quick decision-making: large wild animals chasing you, fires, witty retorts. But it's interesting to see that we've added additional training through socialization. It follows that you can learn a lot about a society's history of resource allocation through how often people are allowed to interrupt, and who they're allowed to interrupt.