> I can't even imagine why I should bother trying to understand it
Why should you? I agree with your sentiment, super advanced quantum physics is probably out of reach for 99% of the population (I'm estimating here but I think it's reasonable to assume that's the average IQ of the physics PHDs who can actually understand this stuff to a deep level). You can probably make the effort to understand something about what's going on there, but it will be very superficial. Going advanced quantum physics takes a huge amount of effort and an incredible capacity for learning complex things.
And even the advanced physics guys don't and can't understand a bunch of very elementary things about reality, so it's not as if the feeling of not understanding stuff ever goes away.
To be fair you don't need to know advanced quantum physics to understand a lot of quantum computing, including Aaronson's discussion of this paper. It's pretty accessible with undergraduate-level linear algebra and computer science concepts.
Why should you? I agree with your sentiment, super advanced quantum physics is probably out of reach for 99% of the population (I'm estimating here but I think it's reasonable to assume that's the average IQ of the physics PHDs who can actually understand this stuff to a deep level). You can probably make the effort to understand something about what's going on there, but it will be very superficial. Going advanced quantum physics takes a huge amount of effort and an incredible capacity for learning complex things. And even the advanced physics guys don't and can't understand a bunch of very elementary things about reality, so it's not as if the feeling of not understanding stuff ever goes away.