Yes, and that is what I meant: if someone with billions to spare offered to buy 25 million bitcoins, the protocol would be immediately changed to create them, with the full cooperation of miners AND approval of developers.
I disagree. It would damage the reputation and hence value irreparably. But there's no way to prove either way.
Many people have told me that. But "many" may be a thousand bitcoiners, perhaps, who care for the Core Values; and they may not include any big holders. The other 99% of the bitcoin community (including the Chinese day-traders, who may
still be setting the price) probably don't understad why a change in the protocol would be a bad thing, or don't care.
Note that increasing the supply of bitcoins is bad for the price only if the demand remains the same. If there were enough new demand, increasing the supply would not prevent the price from increasing, too.