I don't share your mistrust of the aesthetic, but I think it's pretty natural to be skeptical of the out-group, so to speak, doubly so if you have no practical way of verifying their claims. At least you're honest about it!

I guess something to think about it that amongst a group like the "burners" there is huge variety in individual experience and skill. And even within a single human mind it's possible to have radically groundbreaking thoughts in one domain, and simultaneously be a total crack-pot in another. Linus Pauling and the vitamin C thing comes to mind. There's no such thing as an average person!

I guess we'll see what the quantum experts have to say about this in the weeks to come =)