The Gray Area with Sean Illing

  • Why we can’t pay attention anymore

    Sean Illing talks with the author Johann Hari about his new book Stolen Focus, which explores what’s happening — and what’s already happened — to our attention. They discuss how exactly Big Tech “stole” our…


  • Democracy in crisis, part 1: Ross Douthat isn’t too worried

    Just how worried should we be about the future of American democracy? This is the question at the center of a two-part series from Vox Conversations and host Zack Beauchamp. For part one, Zack talks…


  • Pod Save the Democrats

    Sean Illing talks with Dan Pfeiffer, former senior advisor to President Obama and co-host of the Pod Save America podcast, about what is wrong with the Democratic Party’s brand right now. They discuss what Dan…


  • A Yellowjackets creator spills his guts

    Vox’s Constance Grady talks with Bart Nickerson, the co-creator of new TV show Yellowjackets, which airs on Showtime. Yellowjackets follows a girls’ soccer team, stranded in the Canadian wilderness in 1996 as teenagers — and…


  • A scientist’s case for “woo-woo”

    Sean Illing talks with David Hamilton, a scientist and former research chemist turned author, about his new book Why Woo-Woo Works, in which he offers a scientifically-grounded defense of alternative practices like meditation, crystals, and…


  • Imagine a future with no police

    Vox’s Fabiola Cineas talks with author, lawyer, and organizer Derecka Purnell about her recent book Becoming Abolitionists. They discuss Derecka’s journey to defending the idea of police abolition, and what that position really entails. They…


  • Novelist Lauren Groff on the other Matrix

    Vox’s Constance Grady talks with novelist Lauren Groff about her latest book, the National Book Award finalist Matrix, before a virtual audience for the Vox Book Club. They discuss the enigmatic historical figure at the…


  • Are we living in a simulation?

    Sean Illing talks with philosopher David Chalmers about virtual worlds and the nature of reality, and other topics that stem from Chalmers’s new book Reality+. In this far-reaching discussion, Sean and Prof. Chalmers get into…


  • Rep. Jamie Raskin on living through the unthinkable, twice

    Vox’s Dylan Matthews talks with Congressman Jamie Raskin about the tragic loss of his son Tommy, who was twenty-five years old when he died at the end of 2020. Rep. Raskin also speaks about the…


  • Best of: Why fascism in America isn’t going away

    Vox’s Sean Illing talks to Yale professor and author Jason Stanley about why American democracy provides such fertile soil for fascism, how Donald Trump demonstrated how easy it was for our country to flirt with…