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. From the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Philosophy
Politics
News Commentary
376
A devastating indictment of the Republican Party
An insider perspective on the GOP’s march to Trumpism
56 min
377
How inequality and white identity politics feed...
Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson on the conservative dilemma
73 min
378
Best of: Jia Tolentino on what happens when lif...
The New Yorker writer explains how technology has transformed the very nature of human interaction
100 min
379
Dadding out with Mike Birbiglia
73 min
380
A rabbi explains how to make sense of suffering
Why God can't solve our suffering problem
52 min
381
The crisis in the news
Margaret Sullivan on the disastrous state of local journalism -- and what we can do about it
46 min
382
Bryan Stevenson on how America can heal
A conversation is about truth and reconciliation in America
75 min
383
What a post-Trump Republican Party might look like
How Oren Cass is challenging conservative economic orthodoxy
76 min
384
Free speech, safety, and ‘the letter’
Yascha Mounk and I discuss free speech, safety, and ‘the letter’
85 min
385
The frightening fragility of America's politica...
Masha Gessen on whether American democracy can survive Donald Trump
63 min
386
Can artificial intelligence be emotionally inte...
A fun conversation about emotional intelligence, machine learning, and AI
72 min
387
Danielle Allen on the radicalism of the America...
The Harvard political theorist on democracy, prison abolition, and the American founding
67 min
388
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
389
Nicholas Carr on deep reading and digital thinking
How technology literally changes our brains
70 min
390
Your questions, answered
Ask Ezra Anything 2020 edition
78 min
391
Which country has the world's best healthcare s...
Ezekiel Emanuel on healthcare reform, coronavirus response and presidential leadership
68 min
392
The transformative power of restorative justice
sujatha baliga on how to radically reimagine our criminal justice system
72 min
393
Ross Douthat and I debate American decadence
Ross Douthat on American decline, utopian ambition, and the Catholic right
89 min
394
A serious conversation about UFOs
A religion scholar on UFOs, belief systems, and purgatory
88 min
395
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
396
Why Ta-Nehisi Coates is hopeful
The award-winning author on police violence, protest, and "the public"
89 min
397
Are humans fundamentally good? (with Rutger Bre...
Rutger Bregman on human nature, hierarchy, and hunter-gatherer societies
94 min
398
From politician to priest
Why Lt. Governor Cyrus Habib is giving up elected office and joining the Jesuits
118 min
399
Robert Frank's radical idea
Using contagion economics to solve our hardest problems
69 min
400
Why “essential” workers are treated as disposable
Mary Kay Henry on essential jobs, organizing, and the future of work
66 min