The Gray Area
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 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.
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It’s irrational to be cynical, so why is it becoming more prevalent?
Orwell prized clear communication, so why are people misusing his name?
The crisis is in the Constitution.
And why you feel bad swearing around your friends’ kids, according to a philosopher.
Inside the GOP’s transition from the party of Reagan to the party of Trump.
A conversation with author Nathalie Etoke on Black existentialism and the case for tragic optimism.
“The survivors would envy the dead.”
A Q&A with Jonathan Haidt on smartphones, kids today, and what the skeptics get wrong about his argument.
Ozempic has become hugely popular. Researchers are racing to learn more about what it does to us.
The spiritual possibilities of alien encounters.
Derek Thompson on what the end of monoculture could mean for American democracy.
Fareed Zakaria on the age of revolution.
What philosophy has to say about midlife crises.
What multilevel marketing schemes are really selling.
A spiritual atheist’s journey to helping death row inmates.
How doomsday proclamations about AI echo existential anxieties of the past.
Expert knowledge is useful for problem-solving. So is adapting to new challenges.
The Protestant work ethic hijacked America. It’s time for a new pro-worker ethos.
Americans embraced meditation. So did corporations.
In his new book, Stanford professor Robert Sapolsky argues that free will is a myth.
Why did so many people believe in SBF — and what should we think now?
He blames the collapse of moral education. But what about capitalism?
Are we living through a uniquely brain-breaking era? Ask someone who went deep into the “mirror world.”
AI doesn’t have to be superintelligent to cause serious havoc.
A new book explains capitalism, insecurity, and why democracy is worth it.
Sohrab Ahmari explains why precarity is breaking our politics.
You can learn a lot from utopias, even though you (probably) don’t live in one.
What’s the matter with men — and how do we fix it?
A conversation about parenting, our planet, and holding onto hope.
Talking Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma with Claire Dederer.
The philosopher Agnes Callard on pushing the boundaries of modern relationships.
What we miss when we don’t pay attention to others.
The populist Congress member from California talked with The Gray Area about some solutions to it.
Brian Stelter on the fracturing of news, the decline of trust, and what we’ve learned from the Fox News scandal.
From Stanford to Theranos, Malcolm Harris explains the weird, dark history of the mythic California city.
Why the influential astrophysicist is increasingly worried about scientific ignorance.
A conversation with ex-GOP operative Tim Miller about how Trumpism swallowed the Republican Party whole.