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.
26
Werner Herzog’s ecstatic truth
A conversation with Werner Herzog about the difference between facts and truth, and why he believes his writing will outlive his films.
53 min
27
The lessons of Sam Bankman-Fried
A discussion of why the world fell for a crypto billionaire.
52 min
28
Is America getting meaner?
A discussion with David Brooks about his essay, “How America Got Mean.”
51 min
29
Naomi Klein on her doppelganger (and yours)
What it’s like to journey into the “Mirror World.”
53 min
30
Should we press pause on AI?
A discussion about AI and the issue of control.
53 min
31
Democracy’s existential crisis
A case for connecting democracy and the human condition.
47 min
32
Conservative socialism?
A conservative makes the case for democratic socialism.
52 min
33
The benefits of utopian thinking
Why it’s not unreasonable to imagine a better future.
50 min
34
What Clarence Thomas really thinks
And why he's the most misunderstood Supreme Court justice, according to the author of The Enigma of Clarence Thomas.
60 min
35
The new crisis of masculinity
How to redefine what it means to be a man.
58 min
36
How we all became a brand
A brief history of how self-invention became personal branding.
49 min
37
The therapeutic potential of MDMA
How did MDMA go from club drug to breakthrough therapy?
44 min
38
Is the journey to self-discovery pointless?
What does it mean to know ourselves, and are modern methods like personality tests helping?
49 min
39
Parenting through the climate crisis
If we owe our children a safe and healthy future, what are parents supposed to do about our rapidly warming world?
43 min
40
Seeing ourselves through darkness
A philosopher's new book on dark moods aims to help us escape the damage of our culture's most pervasive metaphor
52 min
41
Best of: A new philosophy of love
55 min
42
The future of tribalism
An evolutionary anthropologist's new book aims to explore mankind's tribal past — and foresee our tribal future
49 min
43
When you can't separate art from artist
How to reckon with consuming the art of someone who’s done something terrible.
49 min
44
The case for not killing yourself
Clancy Martin's new book is a portrait of the suicidal mind — his own
54 min
45
What comes after Black Lives Matter?
Three summers after the death of George Floyd, what is the future of the racial justice movement in America?
54 min
46
Clickbait’s destructive legacy
How the media’s pursuit of traffic dented democracy.
49 min
47
Simone Weil’s radical philosophy of love and at...
How 20th-century philosopher Simone Weil built a legacy of caring for others.
53 min
48
Peter Singer on his ethical legacy
The world's most famous utilitarian talks about the state of animal liberation and effective altruism — two movements he helped found
61 min
49
Why the poor in America stay poor
We’ve built a society that shields us from a lot of the cruelties we participate in. Here’s what we can do to change that.
51 min
50
The spiritual roots of our strange relationship...
Revisiting the German thinker whose narrative of the origin of capitalism explains some of the weird ways we think about jobs
49 min