With exponential growth in computing capability of present day hardware as per Moore's law one can overlook the importance of efficient algorithms very easily. But efficient algorithm will always be critical as the complexity of programs running on today's efficient hardware has also increased with same pace if not more.
Today people are dealing with huge social network graphs, or analysing twitter posts, or searching images, or solving any of the hundreds of problems in vogue. They would be wasting time without the fastest possible hardware. But if they use incorrect algorithms they would be sitting forever. Hence there is no substitute for an efficient algorithm.
