You can build a city below sea level, and it might work for a while, but sooner or later, the water will win.
Trends don’t determine whether we’ll be able to accomplish something tomorrow. But seeing and then understanding the trends allows us to work with the wind at our backs, instead of fighting it.
Consider demographics, technology and science. All three are inexorably moving, and while they can be ignored, sooner or later, they catch up with our project and push against it. We can deny the facts of the world around us, with passion or even vitriol, but trends compound.
When you can, focus on something tenable.