Is SEO dead?

Rumors are flying around the internet world that conventional SEO methods are becoming less relevant all the time. Meta tags, keywords, description all mostly meaningless. Whats happening?
No one is completely sure but something seems to be amiss. Whatever the problem it is clear that the old model still has relevance as there would be no other real way to rank sites if not for their back links and content. Nonetheless something has changed and many are trying to put their finger on it. Alas the emphasis has moved or evolved towards the link campaign that a site has or how powerful its link juice. If in the past it was 50/50 on site SEO and backlinks it has definitely gone in a different direction. That almost everybody says. A good site with good content with healthy good links will get the job done. It may take time but it will get the job done.