As I know, ths content is still the king. This is a basic rule I think. Currently more user use mobile phone to surf. The content will serve less people, but more accurate. The SEO technology becomes more technical, need more coding skill, server skill to enhance it.
SEO will not only serve search engine, but also our visitors. We need to make them comfortable. In the past, we use some tricks to improve ranking, but now, we need methods to encourage visitors to help us.
We will not create fake content, but really helpful and usefule content. We will be the real content maker, no more waste. More white hat, less black hat.
So is the SEO dead? not yet. But we have a better future.
Check out Google's new Quality Rater Guidelines.