Move Slow and Upgrade : The Power of Incremental Innovation

The interdisciplinary case studies in this book show what many suspect, that the self-serving narrative of disruptive innovation doesn't serve us. Instead upgrades - evidence-based, incremental change - promises a better future. We don't have to accept innovation as the status quo, we can upgrade ourselves into a better world.

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.