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Why we’re bad at being social | The Gray Area - May 25, 2026 - Vox

Sean talks with University of Chicago psychologist Nicholas Epley about the strange gap between our need to be social and how social we choose to be. They explore why we underestimate how good conversations will feel, why awkwardness looms so large in our minds, and how small acts of connection can make us happier, less lonely, and more open to the people around us.

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Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling)

Guest: Nicholas Epley

00:00 Intro

00:59 The Paradox of Connection: Why We Avoid Being Social

11:03 The Fear of Awkwardness

19:31 Why We Get Cold Feet: The Approach-Avoidance Conflict

27:51 The Surprising Kindness of Honesty

38:21 Why We Should Skip Small Talk and Go Deep

46:17 Simple Social Experiment for connection

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Everyone’s an expert now | The Gray Area - May 22, 2026 - Vox

Almost a decade ago, Tom Nichols warned that Americans were losing respect for expertise. He didn’t expect things to get this bad.

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Sean talks with Nichols about his 2017 book “The Death of Expertise” and what’s happened since: why people don’t just distrust experts but actively push back against them, how the internet turns bad ideas into communities, and why a society that can’t agree on basic facts can’t function for long. They also dig into the deeper causes: loneliness, narcissism, and the weird psychology of living in a world where everything “just works.”

Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling)

Guest: Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom)

00:00 Intro

01:13 A Growing Contempt for Competence: Revisiting The Death of Expertise

08:14 Decadence and the collapse of respect for competence

18:07 How internet echo chambers destroys shared reality

21:59 Is the ruling class to blame for the death of expertise?

28:34 How to separate healthy skepticism from destructive contempt for expertise

35:04 What happens next in a post-expertise world?

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How to be more creative | The Gray Area - May 18, 2026 - Vox

Sean talks with writer David Epstein about why unlimited freedom and endless choice often make us less creative, less focused, and less fulfilled. They discuss the hidden power of constraints, the psychology of attention, why humans struggle with too many options, and how useful limits can help us do better work and live more meaningful lives.

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Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling)

Guest: David Epstein (@DavidEpstein)

00:00 Intro

01:46 How restraints helped create the periodic table

03:41 The relationship between freedom and creativity

10:55 Is freedom the absence of limits?

16:50 Why does choice create anxiety?

22:20 How do we navigate a world with too many choices?

27:22 Making a decision vs ‘sliding’ into one

34:02 The value of ritual

37:55 Creative limits and Dr. Seuss

39:41 How David Epstein’s life changed after writing this book

And you can watch new episodes of The Gray Area on YouTube. New episodes drop every Monday and Friday.

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Vox.com is a news website that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines. Check out http://www.vox.com.

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Americans oppose data centers. We went to find out why | America, Actually - May 16, 2026 - Vox

There’s a growing disconnect between a local community that says it’s being treated as the "guinea pigs" in a new industrial revolution, and Washington politicians. Astead Herndon heads to Vineland, New Jersey, this week to check out one of the Northeast’s biggest data centers that neighbors say was rushed into construction without community buy-in.

00:00 Why data centers are the new political flashpoint

02:26 On-site at one of the Northeast’s biggest data centers

05:01 The jobs debate

07:45 The extractive reality of data centers

12:39 Residents speak out at a town hall

18:11 AI anxiety and government trust

America, Actually publishes video episodes every Saturday tackling key issues in politics, culture, and the economy. Subscribe to Vox’s YouTube channel to get them. Listen to episodes of America, Actually on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite app.

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