Well then you're probably the kind of person who would instinctively give signs that someone like me can open their big nerdy mouth, that this is safe territory because we're all engineers trying (this thing with error in the cycle, you know). You're probably someone in the "having a blast" part of my perspective — the kind of people I can actually work with best. The others, we "manage" kinda, with empathy if we can, like they manage us too.

Slight tangent. You know this idea of "feeling comfortable being wrong" in front of someone, that it's OK to say dumb stuff in front of people we trust. I think it enables us to just try, up to our limits (where we must fail a lot by definition, and also the only place where we make actual progress).

When you can build the kind of team that can transparently fail (thus collectively improve...), within that 'safe' tech space of 'engineers', where we know it's everybody just trying and the ethos is aligned with that (nerds may speak, fail, laugh, etc.), I think you've got a solid basis for any project, any company.

You sound like someone who builds that kind of environment. I wouldn't worry in that case; again, nerds will pick up the signs if you just speak your mind — hints like you saying "So I didn't know X, and then blablabla", or simply asking bluntly "what do you think of our choice to do X?" instead of defending it like OP's interviewer. ;-) In general, people who ask questions have to be prepared to hear the answer, that's how I operate personally. I would just temper the response based on what I actually do know of the situation.

I personally don't spend one minute thinking about mind games if the other person seems direct, transparent, honest, especially problem-solving mission-driven kinda mindset.