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.
76
Late-stage liberalism
A discussion with political philosopher John Gray about his new book, The New Leviathans: Thoughts After Liberalism.
50 min
77
The case against free will
A discussion about whether or not free will exists and what it means for our society.
55 min
78
A Jew and a Muslim get honest about Israel and ...
How to think humanely about the Israel-Gaza horror.
56 min
79
How to keep panic from attacking
A discussion about panic and anxiety with Matt Gutman, the chief national correspondent for ABC News and the author of No Time to Panic: How I Curbed My Anxiety and Conquered a Lifetime of Panic Attacks.
46 min
80
We Are What We Watch
A conversation about how entertainment affects us mentally and physically, and why that’s okay.
53 min
81
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
82
The lessons of Sam Bankman-Fried
A discussion of why the world fell for a crypto billionaire.
52 min
83
Is America getting meaner?
A discussion with David Brooks about his essay, “How America Got Mean.”
51 min
84
Naomi Klein on her doppelganger (and yours)
What it’s like to journey into the “Mirror World.”
53 min
85
Should we press pause on AI?
A discussion about AI and the issue of control.
53 min
86
Democracy’s existential crisis
A case for connecting democracy and the human condition.
47 min
87
Conservative socialism?
A conservative makes the case for democratic socialism.
52 min
88
The benefits of utopian thinking
Why it’s not unreasonable to imagine a better future.
50 min
89
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
90
The new crisis of masculinity
How to redefine what it means to be a man.
58 min
91
How we all became a brand
A brief history of how self-invention became personal branding.
49 min
92
The therapeutic potential of MDMA
How did MDMA go from club drug to breakthrough therapy?
44 min
93
Is the journey to self-discovery pointless?
What does it mean to know ourselves, and are modern methods like personality tests helping?
49 min
94
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
95
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
96
Best of: A new philosophy of love
55 min
97
The future of tribalism
An evolutionary anthropologist's new book aims to explore mankind's tribal past — and foresee our tribal future
49 min
98
When you can't separate art from artist
How to reckon with consuming the art of someone who’s done something terrible.
49 min
99
The case for not killing yourself
Clancy Martin's new book is a portrait of the suicidal mind — his own
54 min
100
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