Book Launch: Move Slow and Upgrade

Join author Albert Fox Cahn to celebrate the launch of his book, Move Slow and Upgrade

Join us at the bookshop for an evening with author, Albert Fox Cahn, as he discusses his new book, Move Slow and Upgrade.

As a lawyer, technologist, and activist, Albert has become a leading voice on how to govern and build the technologies of the future. In his new book, co-authored with Evan Selinger he pursues this thinking:

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.

Albert is a visiting scholar practitioner at the Centre of Governance and Human Rights and a visiting scholar at Pembroke College. He is also the founder in residence at the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project’s (S.T.O.P.) which he started in the belief that local surveillance is an unprecedented threat to public safety, equity, and democracy. He is also a fellow at N.Y.U Law School’s Information Law Institute, Ashoka, and TED.

Event Timings

6.30pm - doors open

6.45pm - talk begins

7.15pm - Q&A

7.30pm - drinks and chat

Accessibility Information

Seating is available for 40 attendees (maximum) plus standing space. Some views may be partially obstructed by architectural columns, bookshelves, etc. but we aim to minimise this where possible. Space will be made available for wheelchair users. Access is via main entrance from street level and there are not steps or ledges.

There are 2 single-person bathrooms, including one large enough to fit a wheelchair with the door closed.

Please get in touch to reserve a seat, or if you have particular needs that you would like us to consider in advance.