I am not sure I understand all of your questions, but I assure you that if people believed there was a high chance that the proof was correct, then they would b

I am not sure I understand all of your questions, but I assure you that if people believed there was a high chance that the proof was correct, then they would be very eager to read it. Mathematicians, and especially the very best mathematicians, are very eager to learn. I don't know of any great mathematician who demonstrates a "lack of intellectual curiosity". That said, there is much more mathematics available than anyone has time to read. It can easily take an hour a page, or more, to read a dense research paper. Mathematicians, like everyone else, have to be selective about what they choose to learn. It is very rare for great work to be ignored, but here is one example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stark%E2%80%93Heegner_theorem http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stark%E2%80%93Heegner_theorem