arcane, esoteric, idiotic

broadly applicable quote from science writer Gary Taubes:

No matter how arcane, esoteric, or idiotic the presentation, there was always somebody in the audience afterwards who would raise their hand and say, “that was a fascinating presentation, really want to thank you for coming.”

I started my career writing about high-energy physics, and the last time I’d actually been to this kind of seminar was in physics. In physics seminars you present your evidence and your data and then the audience rips you to shreds. Because what they’re interested in is finding out how sound your conclusions really are. The last thing they do is raise their hand and tell you how gee-whiz fascinating it was.