Brendan Gregg's talk at USENIX highlights predictions and trends in computing performance, focusing on processors, memory, disks, and networking while noting the challenges in scaling. He emphasizes the limitations of current technology, such as the stagnation of clock rates and the shift toward horizontal scaling with more CPU cores. The future of multi-socket systems and the integration of accelerators like FPGAs and GPUs are discussed, alongside the evolving landscape of cloud-based computing and machine learning's impact on processor design.