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
326
Dadding out with Mike Birbiglia
73 min
327
A rabbi explains how to make sense of suffering
Why God can't solve our suffering problem
52 min
328
The crisis in the news
Margaret Sullivan on the disastrous state of local journalism -- and what we can do about it
46 min
329
Bryan Stevenson on how America can heal
A conversation is about truth and reconciliation in America
75 min
330
What a post-Trump Republican Party might look like
How Oren Cass is challenging conservative economic orthodoxy
76 min
331
Free speech, safety, and ‘the letter’
Yascha Mounk and I discuss free speech, safety, and ‘the letter’
85 min
332
The frightening fragility of America's politica...
Masha Gessen on whether American democracy can survive Donald Trump
63 min
333
Can artificial intelligence be emotionally inte...
A fun conversation about emotional intelligence, machine learning, and AI
72 min
334
Danielle Allen on the radicalism of the America...
The Harvard political theorist on democracy, prison abolition, and the American founding
67 min
335
Land of the Giants: The Netflix Effect
Land of the Giants is a podcast from our friends at Recode and the Vox Media Podcast Network that examines the most powerful tech companies of our time.
17 min
336
Nicholas Carr on deep reading and digital thinking
How technology literally changes our brains
70 min
337
Your questions, answered
Ask Ezra Anything 2020 edition
78 min
338
Which country has the world's best healthcare s...
Ezekiel Emanuel on healthcare reform, coronavirus response and presidential leadership
68 min
339
The transformative power of restorative justice
sujatha baliga on how to radically reimagine our criminal justice system
72 min
340
Ross Douthat and I debate American decadence
Ross Douthat on American decline, utopian ambition, and the Catholic right
89 min
341
A serious conversation about UFOs
A religion scholar on UFOs, belief systems, and purgatory
88 min
342
A former prosecutor's case for prison abolition
Paul Butler on how our criminal justice system is broken — and how to fix it
64 min
343
Why Ta-Nehisi Coates is hopeful
The award-winning author on police violence, protest, and "the public"
89 min
344
Are humans fundamentally good? (with Rutger Bre...
Rutger Bregman on human nature, hierarchy, and hunter-gatherer societies
94 min
345
From politician to priest
Why Lt. Governor Cyrus Habib is giving up elected office and joining the Jesuits
118 min
346
Robert Frank's radical idea
Using contagion economics to solve our hardest problems
69 min
347
Why “essential” workers are treated as disposable
Mary Kay Henry on essential jobs, organizing, and the future of work
66 min
348
"The world’s scariest economist” on coronavirus...
Mariana Mazzucato on her "plan to fix capitalism".
79 min
349
A mind-bending conversation about quantum mecha...
Sean Carroll answers my dumb quantum mechanics questions — and yours.
76 min
350
Why the coronavirus is so deadly for black America
David R. Williams on the science behind Covid-19’s massive racial disparities
76 min