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My guest this week is Lauren Hall, a professor of political science, an author, and a thought leader whose work challenges the rigid, binary ways we often think about personal, social, and political issues. She’s written extensively on the medicalization of birth and death, the politics of family, and the crucial need for what she calls radical moderation—a framework that moves beyond “us versus them” thinking and embraces the full complexity of human experience.
Lauren’s approach introduces a four-dimensional way of understanding our world—one that demands humility, curiosity, and a recognition that real solutions exist beyond the false choices we’re so often given. In a time when civil discourse feels like a lost art, her work reminds us of the power of pluralism, gratitude, and the willingness to engage with perspectives outside of our own echo chambers.
Beyond her academic work, Lauren is yet another of my fellow advisors for the ProHuman Foundation, a group committed to fostering open and honest conversations about the issues that shape our lives. In this episode, we’ll explore the dangers of negativity bias, the importance of lived experience, and how practicing radical moderation can help us bridge the divides that seem to grow wider every day.
Lauren Hall is a Professor of Political Science and the author of The Medicalization of Birth and Death (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2019) and Family and the Politics of Moderation (Baylor University Press, 2014). Her writing explodes binary thinking to help people think about personal, social and political problems in all four dimensions. She writes on the importance of this “radical moderation” for popular audiences at https://radicalmoderatesguide.substack.com/. Her public speaking includes appearances on multiple podcasts including The Curious Task and The Great Antidote. She is a 2024 Pluralism Fellow with the Mercatus Center, serves on the Board of Advisors for the Prohuman Foundation, and is a Movement Partner with Builders. She also serves as Associate Dean of Academic Affairs in the College of Liberal Arts at the Rochester Institute of Technology.
What have you done today to make your life a better life? What have you done today to make the world a better place? The world is a better place if we are better people. That begins with each of us as individuals. Be kind to one another. Be grateful for everything you’ve got. Make each and every day the day that you want it to be!
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