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
1
Stop comparing yourself to AI
53 min
2
Democrats need to do something
47 min
3
How to live in uncertain times
45 min
4
How to sink into silence
Pico Iyer on finding quiet in a noisy world
43 min
5
How to change your personality
35 min
6
Is ignorance truly bliss?
30 min
7
Is America broken?
46 min
8
The cost of spending time alone
Do Americans have too much 'me time?'
37 min
9
Attention pays (with Chris Hayes)
47 min
10
How to be happy
63 min
11
The screens between us
42 min
12
The importance of failure
42 min
13
What to do with your sadness, pain, and grief
53 min
14
What do animals feel?
44 min
15
Are men okay?
44 min
16
How to feel alive
49 min
17
The antidote to climate anxiety
47 min
18
America’s reactionary moment
70 min
19
Well this is awkward
54 min
20
What just happened, and what comes next
Your election questions answered
47 min
21
Does being "woke" do any good?
Musa al-Gharbi helps us untangle the concept of "wokeness"
49 min
22
Is America collapsing like Ancient Rome?
42 min
23
The world according to Werner Herzog
53 min
24
Ta-Nehisi Coates on complexity, clarity, and tr...
We revel in complexity. But does our desire to understand that complexity sometimes over-complicate an issue?
66 min
25
Your mind needs chaos
Oshan Jarow speaks with philosopher of neuroscience Mark Miller about how our minds actually work and why we thrive on creativity and chaos.
49 min