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.
151
The quest for authenticity
Better living through the existentialism of Simone de Beauvoir
46 min
152
Even Better: Setting your boundaries
43 min
153
Your gut instinct is usually wrong
A data scientist on how to make decisions
49 min
154
Even Better: Workplace equality 2.0
51 min
155
Why we're still postmodern (whatever that means)
53 min
156
Even Better: Activism when you don't know where...
47 min
157
The Supreme Court's power grab
60 min
158
How middlemen took over the economy
60 min
159
The necessity — and danger — of free speech
Free speech is essential for democracy. It may also be democracy's downfall.
50 min
160
Hacking coral sex to save the reefs
49 min
161
The price of keeping secrets
47 min
162
Does China control Hollywood?
58 min
163
Steve Bannon is still at war
45 min
164
The Fortress of Solitude saw it all coming
Constance Grady talks with author Jonathan Lethem about his prescient 2003 novel
34 min
165
The Philosophers: Stoic revival
59 min
166
Station Eleven's creator on the end of the world
Showrunner Patrick Somerville on why hope is necessary for survival
47 min
167
The racist origins of fat phobia
49 min
168
The fight for Ukraine — and democracy
49 min
169
The war on trans people
49 min
170
Michael Ian Black on being a better man
50 min
171
Carmen Maria Machado's haunted feminine
36 min
172
The rise and fall of America's monuments
45 min
173
The Philosophers: America's philosophy, with Co...
55 min
174
Why accidents aren't accidental
47 min
175
Rethinking the "end of history"
56 min