[coding123]

Are we sure that the ML experts that wanted to beat real human chess players actually respected them? Wouldn't they know that at some point the enjoyment of chess itself might fade if the best in the world is a computer? Maybe chess is having a moment right now due to Netflix, perhaps maybe it's a permanent upswing. But long term, I don't know if it will remain interesting to people.

[EthanHarv]

I personally doubt chess will fade. As far as I can tell, the enjoyment of high-level chess is less to do with reaching objective perfection, rather it's more the "thrill" of seeing a _human_ who has poured their life into the pursuit of improving their game. It doesn't really matter that a computer can beat them, we care about them because people like seeing other people's talents.

And on a casual level, nothing changes if the best in the world is a human or computer, so the casual player isn't particularly affected.

[stickfigure]

Dunno, but people are still into competitive weightlifting even though the forklift has been around for over a hundred years.

[eru]

Chess is now more popular than ever before.

Not sure how important Netflix is here? There are lots of chess players on YouTube, too.

Go also get much more popular in the West for a while when Alphago came along.