Do you think it's belittling to point out that someone may not have scientific knowledge? Ie, is the statement something beyond mere fact? What makes having scientific knowledge good, that you may infer that someone may think not having it is bad?
My first reading of the sentence in question was that it was patronising
In and of itself no. But in the context of responding to someone saying “your comment reminded me that some people don’t have a scientific background” can be read in a similar way to saying “your comment reminded me that not everyone on Hacker News is a genius”, even if that wasn’t the author’s intention.