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Fatalistic thinking probably but having spent some time trying to tutor very basic math and physics in the past I'm afraid I believe many things are simply incomprehensible to people below certain abilities and IQ. And if you don't interact with the "average" human regularly you don't realize how functionally illiterate many of the population is (I'm amazed more people don't off themselves with the insulin I prescribe).
In the interview he talks about many topics outside of his expertise he says it would take him weeks or months to understand, as someone from an elite competitive math background. Versus I could spend my entire life and not get closer to answering IMO questions.
It's hard to tell if they're really just that unable to do math or the interest is just literally zero to invest any effort in it. Like, I'm often surprised at how sophisticated a person can be in discussing football (and able to do math in that context) while being completely blanked out about it in other contexts.
I do think the number of people who actually find pleasure in thinking about something and understanding something is pretty rare.
But are the topics by nature more comprehensible, or are the comprehensible because he does the work to make them comprehensible?