In this introductory episode of “It’s Really That Simple”, we converse about the general topic of “simplicity” and discuss some of our basic thoughts on how it impacts faith, education, and nutrition. This episode sets up the podcast by giving the listener some ideas of the types of things that will be discussed in future episodes.
We hope it will whet your appetite for more discussions about simple living in many areas of our lives!
February 10th, 2009 at 11:26 am
Hello Christy and Steve,
Congratulations on your first episode, it sounded great. Neither of you sounded nervous. In fact, you sounded like you had fun. I like the premise of the podcast as well. As you probably can guess, I’m a big fan of complexity and often need reminded that in many cases, the simpler option really is the better one.
This will also provide an opportunity to challenge my negative views of homeschooling.
I do want to make one comment about medicine and their listed side-effects. Most listed side-effects are completely bogus. Manufactures must, by law, list _all_ side-effects mentioned by their human study subjects even if the side-effects where as prevalent in the control group (meaning the drug actually didn’t cause the effect). They must also list it if another cause is obvious. If someone with a family history of ulcers happens to get an ulcer during the trial study, ulcers gets listed as a possible side effect. It’s also true of someone gets divorced during the study and lists ‘depression’ or ‘insomnia’. If common aspirin had to go through these human trials, it’s list of side effects would be just as long as modern medications.
While the laws governing this were written with the best of intentions – full disclosure to protect the public – it has some serious downsides. One is this growing perceptions that all modern medicines’ cures are worse then the disease. People then turn to alternative ‘medicine’, which are under little or no requirements to list side effects, to rigorous clinical trials, or even prove efficacy. It also shapes a negative perception of the FDA because it seems like their letting these drugs with all these nasty side-effect through. That erosion of trust is harmful as well.
Side note: I think there are some serious problems with the FDA as well, mostly relating to under-funding and under-staffing but also with respect to food regulations. But I think these are things that can be fixed and doesn’t need replaced. On that note…
Steve: This podcast has finally allowed me to connect some pieces on how you view the world and why you believe and say some of the things you do. To over-simplify it, you seem to be a builder and not a fixer. When you find problems with something, whether it be the church or public school, you are more interested in building a superior alternative than in working to fix and improve the existing. Even our brief conversation about taxes fit this mold. You clearly find fault with our current income-based system. Instead of looking for ways to improve it, you’d rather scrap it and create an alternative.
It’s an admirable trait and as a fellow programmer, one I can completely understand. Fixing someone else’s code is often more difficult and painful than building code that does the same thing from scratch. But I would mention that for many things, fixing the existing system is superior than building an alternative. Public education is one such system (I promise I will finish that post at some point
).