Everything comes to an end eventually, and there's no strategy to avoiding it. But not trying to adapt to real changes in the environment could certainly be a recipe to hasten that end. And yes, we do really try and make sure that any change we make is more than worth it.

But if in 2026 Java is the third or second most popular language in the world overall and the #1 choice for large applications that are performance-sensitive and/or need to be maintainable, but is it possible that in 20 years, despite our best efforts, Java will decline sharply, perhaps even to the point of being only as popular as, say, Go is today? Sure.