Entrepreneurs are interested in future trends for pragmatic reasons. They want to profit from them. The entrepreneur may plan his business around a trend that he expects to develop but he does so tentatively, for he cares more about the health of his business than the accuracy of his prediction.
If, as his business is progressing, he encounters some evidence that suggests the prediction upon which his plan is based is wrong, his immediate reaction is fear – fear for the health of his business. He does not feel personally challenged. He does not feel compelled to refute that evidence.
In other words, the wise entrepreneur analyzes and sometimes acts on future trends but he never weds himself to them.
Ideologues, on the other hand, do just the opposite.
They are interested in future trends for academic or aesthetic reasons – to support an argument they have been making or because the growth of a trend supports their weltanschauung. Ideologues, in other words, are emotionally invested in the trends they predict and therefore feel threatened when evidence suggests those predictions are false.
