I clapped but you are mixing your logics.

I would start with you should never say never.

You are mixing absolutes with compromises.

If you never this or never that, it could be you are very lucky or very unlucky, it was not about optimizing or not optimizing.

Both your example about airports and your thesis ignore the benefit of peace of mind, other things regarding the value of time spent that is not precisely utilitarian.

I am a rocket scientist, I am very aware of trade offs, optimization, compromise, etc. I think we also need to be aware of the Zen of things. Some things are immeasurable, maybe because we don't know how not because they can't. Maybe it is just Heisenbergian.

Your last three bullet points are just more reason to never say never. Who has never been misunderstood, never had a disappointing meal or has no regrets. Most of us had our first disappointing meal before we were potty trained.

I think this "you're not trying out enough new restaurants." Is possibly a window into a dark place in your soul. Someone who cares enough about trying out new restaurants to include it in a story like this is hung up on a corrosive post modern experiential culture. Do you post pictures of restaurant meals to social media?