> disproportionately popular among armchair theorists compared to other fields like math or chemistry.

I’ve heard this before, but I wonder how true it is? I know my experiences are just anecdotes, but I knew a guy who was convinced the Hotel Room/Bellboy/Missing Dollar problem “broke maths”, and I’ve had countless frustrations with family members promoting homeopathy and acquaintances talking about chemical X being “one atom away from being bleach” like that doesn’t apply to water.

I’d be interested if anyone has done a real analysis of rates of armchair nonsense by sector.