I’m a giant believer in shortcuts—whether they be labeled technology, magic, or methodology—but I don’t think a shortcut in any way excuses the absence of discipline. It takes disciplined thought to assess a shortcut and make sure it is still relevant and ethical, and it takes disciplined action to create new shortcuts that are viable enough to replace the current ones.
Dirty Sci-Fi Buddha 
A shortcut that works is just a better way of doing things. Most shot cuts end up taking longer or doing things worse.
LikeLiked by 2 people
“Ethical”. Yes.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Unless you are trying to reach a place. Those short cuts tend to not work out well…….
LikeLiked by 1 person
I dunno—I think of technology as shortcuts, but yeah I see your point: a lot of tech isn’t necessarily good for us.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sometimes there are so many shortcuts you forget how to reach the eventual destination. Like with editing. You can edit the heck out of a story and discover you lost the theme somewhere in the red slashes.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s true! I guess I’m always trying to keep an ear to the ground so I can try and invent a better, faster way to do things. Writing takes a long time as is, so I’m always looking for time hacks that’ll allow me to speed up the process.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Indeed ‘tis all too true. 😊
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m basically lazy. I’ll look for shortcuts and easier ways to do things on a daily basis. I once saved an employer thousands of dollars on manufacturing because I didn’t want to order the part they needed to complete a project. Pointed out they didn’t need it if they just changed the connectors on the cable they fabricated.
LikeLiked by 1 person
If not for shortcuts, we’d have no tech and no medicine! But I guess you could also argue that some tech isn’t that good for us.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for this – it’s funny how we define them sometimes…when I was writing code for a living I would stay up all night writing code for a one-time routine to solve something that I could probably just count…my rationale was that the time expense would lead to a shortcut in the future…
Not sure if that ever really came to pass…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hey at least you tried! If I ever get lost with stuff like that, I like to use my “compass,” which is what’s most effective bounded by what I think is ethical.
LikeLiked by 1 person