You seem nice.
I didn’t insult them.
I just told them to learn some things which are entirely within their capability to learn, so that they can think about the topic they were talking about, without thinking nonsense.
It shouldn’t take more than a couple hours (possibly under an hour to get the ideas I was referring to), and knowing basic linear algebra is good for a person.
If I was blunt, it is because I dislike misinformation, and highly value mathematics. Perhaps I’ve even warped my view of things in a way that makes me feel that someone understanding mathematics is a terminal moral good? Which, if so, is probably an error on my part.
Learn basic linear algebra to get the idea of the dimension of vector space. Then maybe learn a bit about the box counting dimension or similar for fractals as another related notion (which allows non-integer values).
Speaking about dimensions without doing math is a mistake.