In response to point 2, Google could still require that links to search pages still go to google.com/search?q=whatever. google.com/whatever would show a differe

In response to point 2, Google could still require that links to search pages still go to google.com/search?q=whatever. google.com/whatever would show a differently formatted page that shows a big error message at the top, with the search results as an extra, not the point of the page. This would mean that Google introducing new sections of the site would not conflict with links to search pages.