We have this concept in software engineering of accidental vs. essential complexity. I feel like what you're asking for is an explanation from physicists that s

We have this concept in software engineering of accidental vs. essential complexity. I feel like what you're asking for is an explanation from physicists that strips out all the accidental complexity, such that the essential is left in a comprehensible form. But it seems totally plausible to me that there is no such essential core small enough to be comprehensible to us without "a phd's worth of understanding". At some point simplifying analogies are not enough, because the critical differences between theories that determine whether they are the right or wrong direction are too deep within the subtleties to show up in analogy.