Advances in networking and computing technologies throughout the early decades of the 21st century have transformed long-standing dreams of pervasive communication and computation into reality. These technologies now form a rapidly evolving and increasingly complex global infrastructure that will underpin the next aspiration of computing: supporting intelligent systems with human-level or even superhuman capabilities. We examine how today's distributed computing landscape can evolve to meet the demands of future users, intelligent systems, and emerging application domains. We propose a "periodic framework" for characterizing the distributed computing landscape, inspired by the systematic structure and explanatory power of the "periodic table" in chemistry. This framework provides a structured way to describe, compare, and reason about the behaviors and design choices of different distributed computing solutions. Using this framework, we can identify patterns in key system properties, such as responsiveness and availability, across the distributed computing landscape. We also explain how the framework can help in predicting future trajectories in the field. Lastly, we synthesize insights from leading researchers worldwide regarding the desired properties, design principles, and implications of emerging areas in the forthcoming distributed computing landscape and in relation to the periodic framework. Together, these perspectives shed light on the considerations that will shape the distributed computing landscape underpinning future intelligent systems.

翻译：21世纪早期数十年的网络与计算技术进展，已将长期以来对普适通信与计算的憧憬转化为现实。这些技术如今构成了一个快速演进且日益复杂的全球性基础设施，将为计算领域的下一里程碑提供支撑：支持具备人类级甚至超人类能力的智能系统。我们审视了当今分布式计算格局如何演变以满足未来用户、智能系统及新兴应用领域的需求。受化学"元素周期表"系统性结构与解释力的启发，我们提出了一种用于刻画分布式计算格局的"周期框架"。该框架提供了一种结构化的方式，用以描述、比较及推理不同分布式计算解决方案的行为与设计选择。借助此框架，我们能在分布式计算格局中识别诸如响应性和可用性等关键系统属性的模式。我们还阐释了该框架如何帮助预测本领域的未来演化轨迹。最后，我们综合了全球知名研究人员关于未来分布式计算格局中新兴领域预期属性、设计原则及影响因素的见解，并将其与周期框架相关联。这些视角共同揭示了将塑造支撑未来智能系统的分布式计算格局的关键考量因素。