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
426
An “uncomfortable” conversation with Cory Booker
Cory Booker is one of most promising candidates in the 2020 Democratic field. So, why is his campaign struggling?
88 min
427
The conservative mind of Yuval Levin
The AEI scholar discusses human nature, the conservative movement, and the case against socialism
75 min
428
How an epidemic begins and ends
A preview of season 3 of Vox's The Impact
37 min
429
Nathan Robinson’s case for socialism
The editor of Current Affairs discusses Bernie Sanders, libertarian socialism, utopian thinking and more
97 min
430
How to topple dictators and transform society (...
Harvard political scientist Erica Chenoweth on why nonviolent resistance succeeds -- and fails
47 min
431
Ask Ezra Anything
Ezra answers listener questions about free will, polarization, capitalism, Twitter and more
88 min
432
Best of: Work as identity, burnout as lifestyle
Anne Helen Petersen and Derek Thompson on what happens when work becomes an identity, and capitalism becomes a religion.
77 min
433
Republicans vs. the planet
Vox's Dave Roberts on the politics of climate change
97 min
434
The geoengineering question
Jane Flegal on the idea that could shatter the link between emissions and global warming
71 min
435
How to solve climate change and make life more ...
Entrepreneur Saul Griffith on why we have all the tools we need to fix climate change
91 min
436
Paul Krugman on climate, robots, single-payer, ...
The Nobel-prize winning economist explains it all
84 min
437
The moral philosophy of The Good Place (with Mi...
The geniuses behind TV's most philosophically-inclined sitcom discuss what it means to be a good person
99 min
438
When doing the right thing makes you a criminal
Direct Action Everywhere co-founder Wayne Hsiung explains why he decided to risk his freedom to expose extreme injustice.
99 min
439
Peter Singer on the lives you can save
Ezra chats with Peter Singer about the re-release of his book "The Life You Can Save".
73 min
440
Best of: The age of "mega-identity" politics
A conversation with Lilliana Mason about identity politics
75 min
441
Because podcast
Gretchen McCulloch on how the internet revolutionized language
77 min
442
There’s more to life than profit
Yancey Strickler on climate change, founding Kickstarter and the perils of profit
89 min
443
Having a bad day? Dave Eggers can help.
Dave Eggers and I discuss satire, the Trump presidency and the importance of disconnecting.
80 min
444
How Whole Foods, yoga, and NPR became the hallm...
Elizabeth Currid-Halkett and Ezra Klein discuss why today’s rich are far less materialistic, but a far greater threat to equality
68 min
445
How social media makes us antisocial
Andrew Marantz explains the symbiotic relationship between social media platforms and the alt-right
89 min
446
ICYMI: Edward Norton’s theory of mind, movies, ...
107 min
447
Introducing Reset
Arielle Duhaime-Ross hosts Reset - the new tech podcast from Recode.
42 min
448
What a smarter Trumpism would sound like
Michael Lind discusses the new class war, China, and his theory of political settlement
82 min
449
The climate crisis is an oceans crisis
Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson explains why oceans are essential to human life and how we are killing them.
69 min
450
We live in The Good Place. And we’re screwing i...
How bad is climate change? Scientist Kate Marvel explains.
81 min