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The Gray Area with Sean Illing
The Gray Area with Sean Illing
Vox

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... more

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Episodes

Is ignorance truly bliss?

Are you ever happier not knowing something? As Aristotle famously claimed, “All human beings want to know.” But denial and avoidance are... more

17 Feb 2025 · 38 minutes
Is America broken?

What do you think of America’s institutions? Alana Newhouse, founder and editor-in-chief of Tablet Magazine, says that may be the most... more

10 Feb 2025 · 53 minutes
The cost of spending time alone

Americans are spending an historic amount of time alone, a phenomenon that is often referred to as an "epidemic of... more

03 Feb 2025 · 45 minutes
Attention pays (with Chris Hayes)

Where is your attention right now? Where was it a minute ago? A second ago? Where will it be a... more

27 Jan 2025 · 54 minutes
How to be happy

What does it take to be happy? Professor of psychology Laurie Santos just might have the answer. This week The Gray... more

20 Jan 2025 · 1 hour, 10 minutes
The screens between us

What is the first thing that you touch in the morning? What about the last thing you touch before you... more

13 Jan 2025 · 49 minutes
The importance of failure

At the beginning of the new year, many of us make pledges to change ourselves. We want to work out... more

06 Jan 2025 · 50 minutes
What to do with your sadness, pain, and grief

How can we find happiness? That's an old question. Since the beginning of philosophy people have been wondering what makes... more

23 Dec 2024 · 1 hour,
What do animals feel?

Can you ever really know what’s going on inside the mind of another creature? In some cases, like other humans, or... more

16 Dec 2024 · 52 minutes
Are men okay?

This week, host Sean Illing gets personal when he asks professor and podcast host Scott Galloway: What’s going on with... more

09 Dec 2024 · 52 minutes
How to feel alive

The sheer feeling of aliveness. We all know what that is, even though it comes in many different forms. Maybe... more

02 Dec 2024 · 57 minutes
The antidote to climate anxiety

In this episode, host Sean Illing speaks with marine biologist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson about her book What If We Get... more

25 Nov 2024 · 55 minutes
America’s reactionary moment

What just happened? It’s been almost two weeks since the presidential election, and many Americans are still grappling with the result.... more

18 Nov 2024 · 1 hour, 18 minutes
Well this is awkward

Philosopher Alexandra Plakias says there are no awkward people, only awkward situations. In her book, Awkwardness: A Theory, Plakias explains the... more

11 Nov 2024 · 1 hour, 1 minute
What just happened, and what comes next

This has been an unusual week. Sean and the TGA team are still sifting through it all and figuring out... more

08 Nov 2024 · 54 minutes
Does being "woke" do any good?

What does it mean to be "woke"? It's become a catchall term to smear or dismiss anything that has any... more

04 Nov 2024 · 56 minutes
Is America collapsing like Ancient Rome?

What can ancient Rome teach us about American democracy? The Roman Republic fell for a lot of reasons: The state became... more

28 Oct 2024 · 49 minutes
The world according to Werner Herzog

Sean Illing speaks with one of his heroes: Werner Herzog. Herzog is a filmmaker, poet, and author of the memoir Every... more

21 Oct 2024 · 1 hour,
Ta-Nehisi Coates on complexity, clarity, and truth.

How important is complexity? At The Gray Area, we value understanding the details. We revel in complexity. But does our desire... more

14 Oct 2024 · 1 hour, 13 minutes
Your mind needs chaos

In part three of our series on creativity, guest host Oshan Jarow speaks with philosopher of neuroscience Mark Miller about how our minds actually... more

09 Oct 2024 · 51 minutes
Musician Laraaji on the origin of creativity

Sean revisits his interview with musician Laraaji, a pioneer of new age music who has recorded more than 50 albums since... more

08 Oct 2024 · 47 minutes
Is AI creative?

What is the relationship between creativity and artificial intelligence? Creativity feels innately human, but is it? Can a machine be... more

07 Oct 2024 · 41 minutes
Happiness isn’t the goal

Children live with a beginner’s mind. Every day is full of new discoveries, powerful emotions, and often unrealistically positive assumptions... more

30 Sep 2024 · 53 minutes
A message from Sean

Sean Illing has a special message for all you listeners: Look at me! We’ve made our first-ever video episode. See Sean... more

27 Sep 2024 · 1 minute
What if we get climate change right?

Climate change has become synonymous with doomsday, as though everyone is waiting for the worst to happen. But what is... more

23 Sep 2024 · 48 minutes
Yuval Noah Harari on the eclipsing of human intelligence

Humans are good learners and teachers, constantly gathering information, archiving, and sharing knowledge. So why, after building the most sophisticated... more

16 Sep 2024 · 1 hour, 27 minutes
Why cynicism is bad for you

There’s a certain glamor to cynicism. As a culture, we’ve turned cynicism into a symbol of hard-earned wisdom, assuming that... more

09 Sep 2024 · 58 minutes
Poetry as religion

Sean Illing speaks with poet and historian Jennifer Michael Hecht, whose book The Wonder Paradox asks: If we don't have... more

02 Sep 2024 · 59 minutes
The jazz musician’s guide to the universe

How is the origin of our universe like an improvised saxophone solo? This week, Sean Illing talks to Stephon Alexander,... more

26 Aug 2024 · 57 minutes
Revisiting the "father of capitalism"

Sean Illing talks with Glory Liu, the author of Adam Smith’s America: How a Scottish Philosopher became an Icon of American Capitalism.... more

19 Aug 2024 · 55 minutes
Breaking our family patterns

Sean Illing speaks with marriage and family therapist Vienna Pharaon, whose book 'The Origins of You' aims to help us... more

12 Aug 2024 · 1 hour, 6 minutes
Why Orwell matters

In an Orwellian twist, the word “Orwellian” has been misused so much over the decades that it’s essentially lost its... more

05 Aug 2024 · 56 minutes
The timebomb the founding fathers left us

The US Constitution is a brilliant political document, but it’s far from perfect. This week’s guest, Erwin Chemerinsky, argues that... more

29 Jul 2024 · 55 minutes
Swear like a philosopher

You can’t drop an f-bomb on the radio, but fortunately for our guest, you can say anything you want in... more

22 Jul 2024 · 44 minutes
Taking Nietzsche seriously

Sean Illing talks with political science professor Matt McManus about the political thought of Friedrich Nietzsche, the 19th-century German philosopher... more

15 Jul 2024 · 1 hour, 2 minutes
What India teaches us about liberalism — and its decline

Authoritarian tendencies have been on the rise globally and the liberal world order is on the decline. One hotspot of... more

08 Jul 2024 · 46 minutes
1992: The year politics broke

We’re living in an era of extreme partisan politics, rising resentment, and fractured news media. Writer John Ganz believes that... more

01 Jul 2024 · 44 minutes
The existential struggle of being Black

Nathalie Etoke joins The Gray Area to talk about existentialism, the Black experience, and the legacy of dehumanization.  Host: Sean Illing... more

24 Jun 2024 · 55 minutes
The world after nuclear war

A mile of pure fire. A flash that melts everything — titanium, steel, lead, people. A blast that mows down... more

17 Jun 2024 · 57 minutes
Gaza, Camus, and the logic of violence

Albert Camus was a Nobel-winning French writer and public intellectual. During Algeria’s bloody war for independence in the 1950s, Camus... more

10 Jun 2024 · 54 minutes
This is your kid on smartphones

Old people have always worried about young people. But psychologist Jonathan Haidt believes something genuinely different and troubling is happening... more

03 Jun 2024 · 53 minutes
Life after death?

Sebastian Junger came as close as you possibly can to dying. While his doctors struggled to revive him, the veteran... more

20 May 2024 · 52 minutes
The world after Ozempic

Ozempic and other new weight loss drugs are being touted as potential miracle cures for diabetes and obesity. Journalist Johann... more

13 May 2024 · 50 minutes
UFOs, God, and the edge of understanding

Religious studies professor Diana Pasulka was a total nonbeliever in alien life, but she began to question this after speaking... more

06 May 2024 · 46 minutes
How to listen

Most of us don’t know how to truly listen, and it’s causing all sorts of problems. Sean Illing is joined... more

29 Apr 2024 · 55 minutes
Everything's a cult now

The internet has fractured our world into a million little subcultures catering to the specific identities and habits of everyone... more

22 Apr 2024 · 53 minutes
Fareed Zakaria on our revolutionary moment

Is it possible that we are living through one of the most revolutionary periods in human history? CNN’s Fareed Zakaria... more

15 Apr 2024 · 45 minutes
Life is hard. Can philosophy help?

Philosophy may seem like a theoretical or abstract discipline in which unanswerable questions are debated to the point of tedium.... more

08 Apr 2024 · 51 minutes
The American dream is a pyramid scheme

Jane Marie is an expert in American bullshit. Her podcast The Dream explores life coaching, wellness, marketing, and other fraudulent... more

01 Apr 2024 · 46 minutes
The chaplain who doesn't believe in God

As a non-believer, Devin Moss never thought he would become a chaplain or a spiritual adviser, much less one who... more

25 Mar 2024 · 48 minutes
Can a friend be our most significant other?

Journalist Rhaina Cohen believes that modern culture undervalues friendships and discusses the ways in which deep friendships are distinct from... more

18 Mar 2024 · 50 minutes
The power of climate fiction

Stephen Markley’s novel, “The Deluge,” is an ambitious and terrifyingly realistic look at our collective future on a warming planet.... more

11 Mar 2024 · 47 minutes
The denial of death

It’s been 50 years since Ernest Becker’s breakthrough book The Denial of Death was first published, and its thesis has... more

04 Mar 2024 · 45 minutes
A brief history of extinction panics

Silicon Valley is in the middle of an AI frenzy, and many of its leaders believe this technology could eventually... more

26 Feb 2024 · 50 minutes
The new(ish) world order

America solidified its dominant posture in the international order following World War II and largely held that position for the... more

19 Feb 2024 · 42 minutes
The free-market century is over

Sean Illing talks with economic historian Brad DeLong about his new book Slouching Towards Utopia. In it, DeLong claims that... more

12 Feb 2024 · 54 minutes
Music and mysticism

Musician Laraaji joins Sean to talk about improvisation as meditation, the transcendent nature of laughter, and lessons from a long... more

05 Feb 2024 · 47 minutes
The case for banning...millionaires?

Political philosopher Ingrid Robeyns believes that there should be a maximum amount of money and resources that one person can... more

29 Jan 2024 · 53 minutes
The joy of uncertainty

For much of her life, author Maggie Jackson disliked uncertainty and thought of it as something to eradicate as quickly as... more

22 Jan 2024 · 48 minutes
A pro-worker work ethic

Americans have absorbed the “Protestant work ethic” — the idea that our value as human beings is determined by how... more

15 Jan 2024 · 41 minutes
The Gray Area with Sean Illing
The power of climate fiction
The Gray Area with Sean Illing
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Listen now on

Apple Podcasts
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Podcast Addict
Pocket Casts
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Description

Stephen Markley’s novel, “The Deluge,” is an ambitious and terrifyingly realistic look at our collective future on a warming planet. He joins... more