Move Slow and Upgrade: The Power of Incremental Innovation

by Evan Selinger, Albert Fox Cahn

For far too long, tech titans peddled promises of disruptive innovation - fabricating benefits and minimizing harms. The promise of quick and easy fixes overpowered a growing chorus of critical voices, driving a sea of private and public investments into increasingly dangerous, misguided, and doomed forms of disruption, with the public paying the price. But what's the alternative? Upgrades - evidence-based, incremental change. Instead of continuing to invest in untested, high-risk innovations, constantly chasing outsized returns, upgraders seek a more proven path to proportional progress. This book dives deep into some of the most disastrous innovations of recent years - the metaverse, cryptocurrency, home surveillance, and AI, to name a few - while highlighting some of the unsung upgraders pushing real progress each day. Timely and corrective, Move Slow and Upgrade pushes us past the baseless promises of innovation, towards realistic hope.

240 pages, Hardcover

Published February 5, 2026

Reviews

[Jolynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice brief explanation of the benefits of incremental innovation (upgrading) over disruptive innovation. Some great advice for a country seemingly enamored with shiny new things and making a fast buck while steadfastly refusing to create a protective infrastructure (which in my view would include as a baseline comprehensive federal privacy legislation). Really enjoyed the example of cybersecurity as a model of upgrading to which others can aspire. Also loved the focus on centering humanity and the dignity of human beings as we figure out which innovations actually benefit people.
Put me in mind of The Innovation Delusion: How our obsession with the new has disrupted the work that matters most by Lee Vinsel and Andrew Russell - also a good read.