You Aren't Fixing The Old Problems

I was nerding out on a podcast about AI yesterday with two genius-level engineers / angel investors

I probably understood maybe 10% of what they were talking about

(Lessons 1 and 2 - It’s good to learn topics that aren’t ‘easy and safe’ sometimes - plus try listening, then give AI the transcript and help it help you understand at your level, after)

One thing I did understand was areas they thought AI would have found easier, and areas they thought would have been harder

The first individual was surprised at how easy it had found language, but at the same time how much AI has struggled with movement and walking properly

But then the second individual said ‘Can I just provide a counter argument to that, or at least an explanation’

(This pod was also a massive lesson in how to disagree on things amicably and helpfully)

They framed it as a ‘Evolutionary Economics’ problem

In the sense that AI can crush writing - but writing was a skill for the developed prefrontal cortex, which is probably only 250k years old

Walking has been a feature for humans for much longer, about 4 million years

So he said that it makes sense that the older the evolutionary solution, the more optimised it is, the harder it is to replicate.

Which is actually something we see in the coaching industry

Content is the equivalent of language / writing in this analogy

Coaches have got better at content - they’ve optimised hooks, reel length, content style, what topics to talk about

We’re a mimetic species, so we look at what other people are doing that works, and we do the same as them.

But for all the content optimisation (a new problem)

Many coaches do well in content, but not in business - because business is an old problem

Trust building, selling, behaviour change - these are evolutionary behaviours that existed long before Instagram algorithms

Hence they’re much harder

So it’s worth thinking about whether you spend enough time solving the old problem that is going to be really important

Instead of spending all your time on the new problem, that doesn’t help your business as much

Connections

• [[Older Problems Are Harder To Solve - Evolutionary Economics]] — This is the same insight from the opposite direction. That spark frames it academically (evolutionary economics, prefrontal cortex age). This one frames it as lived observation for coaches. Together they’re two entry points into the same argument: content is the new problem, business is the ancient one.
• [[The Red Queen]] — Coaches optimising content are in a Red Queen race on the new-problem treadmill. The old problems (trust, selling, behaviour change) don’t get easier no matter how fast you run on content. Red Queen failure = running harder at the thing that doesn’t matter as much.
• [[The Lionel Messi of Content]] — Messi doesn’t optimise distance covered (new metric). He solves the spatial game (old problem). Identical frame: stop measuring the new metric (reach, engagement) and start solving the old problem (does anyone trust you enough to buy?).
• [[Senior developers get more from AI than juniors]] — Senior developers are senior because they’ve solved old problems through experience. AI amplifies that ancient knowledge. The coaching equivalent: a coach who understands trust-building and behaviour change gets disproportionately more from AI than one who just knows hooks and content formats.
• [[What is creativity]] — Creativity is the escape from the old-problem trap. If everyone converges on the same content strategies (Red Queen), creativity is what lets you solve the old problems (trust, behaviour change) in new ways. The two sparks together: the diagnosis (old problems) and the prescription (creativity).
• [[The Four Levels of AI Maturity for Coaches]] — Level 1-2 coaches are fixing the new problem with AI (faster content). Level 3-4 coaches are fixing the old problem with AI (better thinking about trust, behaviour change, sales). The maturity shift is recognising which problem you’re actually solving.

Tensions

• But content IS how prospects find you. You can’t solve the trust problem if nobody knows you exist. The new problem is the gateway to the old problem. The trap is getting stuck at the gateway and never walking through.