[bluGill]

> I doubt you can accurately predict the future and whatever assumptions you make will likely be wrong in some way.

I doubt this for most of us. Computers have been around for a long time. Most of us are not work on new problems. We by now have a pretty good idea of what will be needed and what won't be. There are a lot of things left that haven't been done yet, but if you understand the problem at all you should have a good idea of what those things will be. You won't be 100% correct of course, and exactly when any particular thing you design for will actually get implemented is unknown, but you should already have a good idea of what things your users will want on a high enough level.

Of course if we ever get something new you will be wrong. 10 years ago I had no idea that LLM type AI would affect my program, but it is now foreseeable even though I don't really know what it can do will turn out useful vs what will just be a passing fad. Science fiction has 3d displays, holographic interfaces, teleportation, and lots of other interesting things ideas that may or may not work out.

Likewise, 20 years ago you could be forgiven for not foreseeing the effects that privacy legislation would have on your app, but you better assume it will exist now and the laws will change.