There is a familiar trio of reactions by scientists to a purportedly radical hypothesis: (a) 'You must be out of your mind!', (b) 'What else is new? Everybody knows that!', and, later - if the hypothesis is still standing - (c) 'Hmm. You *might* be on to something!' Sometimes these phases take years to unfold, one after another, but I have seen all three emerge in near synchrony in the course of a half-hour's heated discussion following a conference paper.