Queen's Gambit and the AI Singularity

I started this article on August 10, 2025. It took me a bit to finish.

Netflix’s limited series Queen’s Gambit is about (among other things) finding purpose in a world that rejects you.

Beth’s mother, Alma lives the unfulfilled life. Alma is a 50s housewife who does… about nothing. When the house is vacuumed, the dishes are washed, the bills are payed (until they’re not) by an absent husband, the excitement of having a child wears (I don’t believe that Alma’s husband was the one who truly asked for or wanted Beth despite the narrative), and the stages were too bright, what is there to do in life other than sulk at the piano, playing the tune of crushed hope? That is Alma. And Alma is every other 50s housewife in America. One cannot live this way for long. Not without a couple pills for “tranquility.”

But hold on, what’s the problem here? From a quantitative standpoint, Alma lives a very good life. Don’t people complain all the time about the bullshit of a corporate job? And isn’t living in security better than living in insecurity?

I am a humanist and I cannot go long talking about the human condition without bringing up Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Alma’s basic needs of security were met, but she could not flourish without purpose and community. Furthermore, from a cognitive perspective, I believe that the human brain cannot stand being one state for too long. We need stimulation.

If the AI singularity comes, as it seems all the AI startups want us to believe, and all our jobs go to null, what will there be left for us? Will we take pills for tranquility? Will we sulk? Will we get children with the hope it makes our problems go away?

We will need to liberate ourselves, and find a higher purpose. We need to go on a journey, like Beth, to explore our curiosity and find ourselves.