Running with the Red Queen

This afternoon at Habano Café, Mike and I sank into one of those conversations that stretch out over burgers and coffee, meandering through memory and possibility. We reminisced about our old days as training consultants, swapped stories about being grandfathers, and compared notes on the stubborn pull of writing. Mike slid a signed copy of his newly published book across the table to me. It was a gesture that landed with both pride and camaraderie.

At some point, our talk turned to the dizzying speed of technological change. That’s when Mike dropped the Red Queen line from Through the Looking-Glass:

“Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!” – The Red Queen

It fit perfectly. The world feels like it’s accelerating, especially now that AI has arrived not as a novelty but as a genuine collaborator. We aren’t just racing to stay relevant; we’re learning to run alongside machines that think, create, and problem-solve with us.

In biology, the Red Queen hypothesis explains how species must keep evolving simply to survive in an environment where everything else is evolving too. Culture, technology, and even our own habits follow a similar rhythm. If you don’t move, you slip behind. If you do move, you may only hold your ground.

But here’s where the café conversation took a twist. Maybe the point isn’t just to run faster. Maybe it’s to choose why you’re running at all. Mike and I found ourselves circling back to writing, to legacy, to the kind of creative work that doesn’t just chase trends but builds meaning. AI, for us, isn’t another treadmill to exhaust us; it’s an unexpected running partner, one that might just help us find a stride worth keeping.

I left Habano with the taste of coffee still lingering, a signed book in my bag, and that Red Queen line echoing in my mind. Yes, the pace of change is staggering. But perhaps the real art is learning when to run, when to walk, and when to simply sit with a friend over a burger and remember who you’ve been, so you can decide who you’re becoming.