The Gray Area with Sean Illing

  • What Don’t Look Up is really about

    Sean Illing talks with David Sirota, the journalist turned Oscar-nominated co-writer (with director Adam McKay) of the film Don’t Look Up. They talk about the movie and how it was originally received, who the truest…


  • Democracy in crisis, part 2: The two-party problem

    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 two, Zack talks…


  • 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…