The meeting was over.
Professor Whittle strode out of the conference room, his face filled with indignation, and cursed under his breath.
"That dictator! He might as well shut down the council."
When he had held a similar position at CERN, no one had ever dared disregard his opinions like this. Yet in his year on the IMCRC Council, he had experienced almost as much frustration as he had in the previous forty years of his life combined.
Walking beside him, Professor Fernando, the United Kingdom's representative on the IMCRC Council, hesitated briefly before saying, "Actually, I think... he has a point."
Whittle turned to Professor Fernando in disbelief, as though he were looking at a monster. "I can't believe it... You actually think what he did makes sense?"
Professor Fernando shrugged and continued.
"When there's no better option, doing something is better than wasting time on pointless arguments. Besides, as he said, hardly anyone can fully understand his proof. If we wait until the physics community generally accepts his views before verifying that he's right, we might have to wait five years, or even longer."
Professor Whittle asked in bewilderment, "Don't you think skepticism is a necessary part of the process?"
"Of course it is. We should remain skeptical at all times, but that skepticism has to be meaningful. For example, there might be a flaw in his paper that can't be easily patched. You or I could question it, and he could then explain... But right now, we clearly aren't in a position to do that."
Watching Professor Whittle sink into thought, Professor Fernando continued.
"If he can prove himself through an experiment, what's wrong with that?"
"Think about it. How fortunate are we to have a reliable guide leading the way?"
The IMCRC's closed-door meeting had