I think one of the easy mistakes is to think of the future as a mere progression of the past. This question of futuristic programming inevitably comes back to

I think one of the easy mistakes is to think of the future as a mere progression of the past. This question of futuristic programming inevitably comes back to transcending current limitations of computers. But those limitations haven't really changed in the last thirty years (or perhaps longer). The same fundamental problems exist in all times and eras. Perhaps these are the wrong limitations. Perhaps the limitations that really matter is how we think about programming. The discussion of sequential vs parallel programming comes to mind. But it is one thing to think about programming as single threads which follow nice, clean flowcharts, and seeing the program as multiple threads woven or knitted together in complex ways. This isn't necessarily parallel programming, but it can range from things like Aspect-Oriented Programming to moving to asynchronous parallel programming and distributed systems. But if we recognize this then maybe the solutions in the past, as inadequate as they were, were striking out in useful directions. Thus I am a fan of a sort of back to the future approach where we look sympathetically on discarded solutions for inspiration to future problems.