Talking to strangers is great. Third places are great.

Contriving a way to talk to a stranger such that your goal is to force them so far outside of their comfort zone that they assertively reject you is not great.

These are not at all the same thing. I'm not saying don't talk to strangers. I'm saying don't use unwitting strangers in your contrived boundary pushing scenarios for your own psychological growth at the expense of their comfort and consent.

You wouldn't walk around putting spiders on people and tell them, "It's cool, bro, I'm just doing spider therapy."