Gone, replaced by something better that doesn't require constant hashing/wasted energy and ASIC computers to keep free. The smartest people in the world are not yet even involved in Bitcoin. Bitcoin is leading the way, but I doubt it'll be the end all solution.
I can't agree with this, as mining creates venues of profit.(Which has it's ups and downs) While ASIC computers will kill it for hobbyists like myself to earn some money, using hardware I already got, or want to tinker with. Being a PC builder and interested in all forms of technology, I'd like to see a utopia where ASIC miners and GPU miners alike can still make reasonable money using hardware they have, for fun, and for their egos, aka, the nerdy hobbyists, who just like to experiment, and the much larger investors who look to make a huge business out of it.
Kinda like how we have Staples Techs, Apple nerds, and what not, and we have computer shops, tech guys, and private consultants. Everyone should be allowed to be involved, no matter what they bring to the table, everyone should get something. Maybe I'm hoping for too much.
GPUs will be dead when ASIC goes mainstream. The point is, it's a waste of energy; finding the needle in the haystack for ten minutes to solve a block is a huge use of resource, hashing power that could've gone to some other good (some have mentioned foldingHome.) It does, however, work, and until we find something else which works, this'll do for now.