Interesting that you would have such an uncharitable takeaway from this given you are a fan of his.

He uses it (the drug cocktail) as an example on understanding and its role on evaluating alignment.

He poses this question

>Before injecting this cocktail into your bloodstream, would you find it reassuring to know that there is at least one human cancer expert who understands – even partially – the mechanism behind this cure?

To which I would answer 'well yes of course'.

And I believe that you would too. Greater understanding is a good thing and worth striving for in a changing landscape.

That is what he is advocating for within mathematics. Whether or not we currently understand the mechanism of action of Pepto or Tylenol is not really relevant to the core message.

Maybe he just sees the legions of armchair experts weighing in on his (extremely notable expert) opinions on mathematics and thought that maybe they'd like a taste of their own medicine?

"Oh no! Not like that!"

- everyone with Very Strong opinions on mathematics academia when he talks about the thing they are (or consider themselves to be) experts in