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.

Philosophy
Politics
News Commentary
176
Even Better: Setting your boundaries
43 min
177
Your gut instinct is usually wrong
A data scientist on how to make decisions
49 min
178
Even Better: Workplace equality 2.0
51 min
179
Why we're still postmodern (whatever that means)
53 min
180
Even Better: Activism when you don't know where...
47 min
181
The Supreme Court's power grab
60 min
182
How middlemen took over the economy
60 min
183
The necessity — and danger — of free speech
Free speech is essential for democracy. It may also be democracy's downfall.
50 min
184
Hacking coral sex to save the reefs
49 min
185
The price of keeping secrets
47 min
186
Does China control Hollywood?
58 min
187
Steve Bannon is still at war
45 min
188
The Fortress of Solitude saw it all coming
Constance Grady talks with author Jonathan Lethem about his prescient 2003 novel
34 min
189
The Philosophers: Stoic revival
59 min
190
Station Eleven's creator on the end of the world
Showrunner Patrick Somerville on why hope is necessary for survival
47 min
191
The racist origins of fat phobia
49 min
192
The fight for Ukraine — and democracy
49 min
193
The war on trans people
49 min
194
Michael Ian Black on being a better man
50 min
195
Carmen Maria Machado's haunted feminine
36 min
196
The rise and fall of America's monuments
45 min
197
The Philosophers: America's philosophy, with Co...
55 min
198
Why accidents aren't accidental
47 min
199
Rethinking the "end of history"
56 min
200
Anita Hill finally gets even
55 min