The Gray Area with Sean Illing

The Gray Area with Sean Illing takes a philosophy-minded look at culture, technology, politics, and the world of ideas. Each week, we invite a guest to explore a question or topic that matters. From the the state of democracy, to the struggle with depression and anxiety, to the nature of identity in the digital age, each episode looks for nuance and honesty in the most important conversations of our time. New episodes drop every Monday.

Philosophy
Politics
News Commentary
226
Why we love drugs
Michael Pollan on humans, plants, and the coming psychedelic revolution
58 min
227
The rugged majesty of revision
Jamil Smith in conversation with author Kiese Laymon on revision, restoration, and repair
54 min
228
How to forgive
53 min
229
What makes a great conversation?
Hosts Sean Illing and Jamil Smith introduce themselves and reintroduce Vox Conversations, a podcast exploring big ideas and hard questions together with bright minds and deep thinkers.
21 min
230
Introducing: Now & Then
A new history podcast from CAFE and the Vox Media Podcast Network
57 min
231
The science of dating
52 min
232
Honoring Juneteenth with Ibram X. Kendi
Ibram X. Kendi on racism, systemic change, and whether an antiracist America is even possible
47 min
233
Digital dictatorship
54 min
234
The man who proposed reparations in the 1860s
Abe Lincoln's forgotten abolitionist ally
62 min
235
What pandemic recovery should look like
54 min
236
The gift of getting old
52 min
237
Freedom, and what it means to have a body
50 min
238
Why are we so worried about Satan?
58 min
239
How to be wrong less often
48 min
240
The complicated history of wildlife conservation
What can the past tell us about the future of fighting extinction?
65 min
241
How to replace everything in the industrialized...
58 min
242
Patricia Lockwood's big, beautiful internet brain
51 min
243
Who is the real George Soros?
53 min
244
Introducing Unexplainable
A new podcast from Vox about everything we don’t know.
26 min
245
The border, explained by someone who knows it i...
51 min
246
"Wintering," wisdom, and weathering life's dark...
62 min
247
Reframing America's race problem
49 min
248
Who owns the Western?
45 min
249
A Watchmen writer on race, TV, and tech giants
52 min
250
Uncovering the history of psychedelics in Chris...
48 min