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 ...
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1:09
The beliefs AI is built on
There’s a lot of uncertainty when it comes to artificial intelligence. Technologists love to talk about all the good these tools can do in the world, all the problems they might solve. Yet, many of those same technologists are also warning us about all the ways AI might upend society, how it might even destroy humanity.
Julia Longoria, Vox host and editorial director, spent a year trying to understand that dichotomy. The result is a four-part podcast series — called Good Robot — that explores the ideologies of the people funding, building, and driving the conversation about AI.
Today Julia speaks with Sean about how the hopes and fears of these individuals are influencing the technology that will change all of our lives.
Host: Sean Illing (@SeanIlling)
Guest: Vox Host and Editorial Director Julia Longoria
Good Robot is available in the Vox Unexplainable feed.
Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4
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50:22
Stop comparing yourself to AI
Why do we keep comparing AI to humans?
Jaron Lanier — virtual reality pioneer, digital philosopher, and the author of several best-selling books on technology — thinks that we should stop. In his view, technology is only valuable if it has beneficiaries. So instead of asking "What can AI do?," we should be asking, "What can AI do for us?"
In today’s episode, Jaron and Sean discuss a humanist approach to AI and how changing our understanding of AI tools could change how we use, develop, and improve them.
Host: Sean Illing (@SeanIlling)
Guest: Jaron Lanier, computer scientist, artist, and writer.
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55:51
Democrats need to do something
American government has a speed issue. Both parties are slow to solve problems. Slow to build new things. Slow to make any change at all.
Until now. The Trump administration is pushing through sweeping changes as fast as possible, completely changing the dynamic. And the Democrats? They’ve been slow to respond. Slow to mount a defense. Slow to change tactics. Still.
Ezra Klein — writer, co-founder of Vox, and host of The Ezra Klein Show for the New York Times — would like to offer a course correction.
In a new book, Abundance, Klein and co-author Derek Thompson, argue that the way to make a better, brighter future, is to build and invent the things we need. To do that, liberals need to push past hyper-coalitional and bureaucratic ways of getting things done.
In this episode, Ezra speaks with Sean about the policy decisions that have rendered government inert and how we can make it easier to build the things we want and need.
Host: Sean Illing (@SeanIlling)
Guest: Ezra Klein, co-author of Abundance and host of The Ezra Klein Show
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54:45
How to live in uncertain times
Humans hate uncertainty. It makes us feel unsafe and uneasy. We often organize our lives to avoid it. When it's foisted upon us, we don’t always know how to act.
But writer and journalist Maggie Jackson argues that uncertainty can actually be good for us, and that we’re doing ourselves a disservice by avoiding it.
She tells Sean that embracing uncertainty can spark creativity, improve problem solving skills, and help us lead better, more hopeful lives.
This episode originally aired in January 2024.
Host: Sean Illing (@SeanIlling)
Guest: Maggie Jackson, author of Uncertain: The Wisdom and Wonder of Being Unsure
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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 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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