But these are the same people who deride socially as not intellectual enough despite it being way more complicated than the stuff physicists work on

*Sociology, fuck

Sounds about right. AI will be solving physics problems long before it solves any social ones

The basic training of physicists is years of "this looks like an insoluble problem, but inside it is a simple problem you can solve with math" Some never realize that the textbook problems are teed up for them just so. xkcd.com/793