That is not a good comparison. People taking the test are not in general scientists. There was never any expectation they would understand how the test works.

That is not a good comparison. People taking the test are not in general scientists. There was never any expectation they would understand how the test works. The proper analogy would be scientists have some big machine which tries different chemical experiments until it has a Covid test that matches the training data. But how would we even trust the training data in that case? Having a good understanding of the basics of genetics and microbiology allows us both to understand how the tests work, and tests in the QAing of the testing procedure. There is no substitute.