Computer architecture as we know it has not changed very much in decades. We are still using the von Neumann architecture that was created in the 1940s. Since the invention of the integrated circuit we have seen huge increase in performance measured by the exponential Moore’s Law. People have been predicting for some time that this architectural model will break and thus end of Moore’s Law. The argument is that a new and dramatically superior model will replace the current technology and replace the integrated circuit and the von Neumann architecture.
One of the benefits of teaching a course on new technologies is I get to read lot’s of papers on new stuff. Viktor Einarsson wrote a paper titled The Computers of the Future. In the paper he looks are two types of new computer designs, quantum computers and DNA computers.
If you want to know the future read this paper: The Computers of the Future.