I agree that Payment Channels is a good step forward but there's the hard limit on how many channels can be open. I'm confident that there will be proposals similar to Poon et al. [1] to create a third layer for networks of payment channels where a Blockchain tx can be used only in case of uncooperative channel counterparties.
[1] https://www.tik.ee.ethz.ch/file/a20a865ce40d40c8f942cf206a7c...