"Anyone who cannot cope with mathematics is not fully human. At best he is a tolerable subhuman who has learned to wear shoes, bathe, and not make messes in the house."

-- Robert Heinlein (as Lazarus Long)

ETA: If I could downvote my own postings, I'd downvote this one. I won't delete it, to leave the context for loqi's response.

Dammit, I've read Distress and I know without looking exactly the context of the Egan quote. I was practically cheering for Rourke in that chapter. But there's a big gap between encountering an idea and finding it good, and actually applying it after closing the book.