Podcast Episodes

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 what to think about the presidential election.…

1 year, 3 months ago

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 vague association with progressive politics. As…

1 year, 3 months ago

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 too big and chaotic; the influ…

1 year, 4 months ago

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 Man for Himself and God Against …

1 year, 4 months ago

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 to understand that com…

1 year, 4 months ago

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 wo…

1 year, 4 months ago

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 he was discovered busking in…

1 year, 4 months ago

Is AI creative?

What is the relationship between creativity and artificial intelligence? Creativity feels innately human, but is it? Can a machine be creative? Are w…

1 year, 4 months ago

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 about t…

1 year, 5 months ago

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 in conversation with Yuval Noah…

1 year, 5 months ago