In Age of Disruption, a Defense of Incrementalism

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In their new book, Move Slow and Upgrade: The Power of Incremental Innovation, Evan Selinger, a professor in the Department of Philosophy at Rochester Institute of Technology and Albert Fox Cahn, founder in residence of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP), argue that society is over-fixated on disruptive innovation over the kind of steady incrementalism that can deliver sustainable returns over longer time frames. They argue in favor or more careful deliberation and adopting what they call the “upgrader’s mindset,” which should be applied whenever “disruptive changes would pose the greatest social risk.”

Gradual innovation, or what we are calling “upgrades,” is like incrementally improving water quality through decades of environmental regulation. In contrast, discontinuous innovation is like trying to clean up a lake by adding a new, invasive species.

I had the chance to read this book well before it was published, and to write a forward to it. It’s a slim volume that challenges the mantra of Silicon Valley, inviting us to ask whether in some circumstances “there is a less disruptive, evidence-based alternative to innovation.”

A transcript is forthcoming.