If [the core Bitcoin development team] are proven wrong and ousted, the game will forever be changed for Bitcoin. No more will there be a sacred brotherhood, an unbroken chain of ordained keepers of the code. The open-source decentralized network will tend to choose the most competent, innovative, and trustworthy custodians, and if at any time they begin to fall behind, they can accept their footnote in the Bitcoin experiment as their rights to carry on as the tip of the spear are abruptly and unceremoniously terminated. “The Real Bitcoin” will trend in the direction of being the best Bitcoin, not the Bitcoin with the most inertia or history or connections.
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Putting aside any opinions I may have about whether the block size should increase, I am personally much more interested to see if this contentious fork will be the point when Bitcoin can take a big step to mitigating its greatest vulnerability. Can it replace its programmers? I think it can and it will someday, perhaps only a few days from now.