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The case for thinking like a child | The Gray Area
April 27, 2026
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Sean talks with psychologist Alison Gopnik about how children think, learn, experience the world, and why their minds may be more powerful than ours in some crucial ways. They explore the idea that kids are the “research and development” wing of the human species, built for exploration, curiosity, and discovery, while adults are optimized for focus, efficiency, and getting things done.
Along the way, they discuss why children notice things we’ve stopped seeing, what we lose when we grow up, and what parenting reveals about love, care, and the nature of intelligence itself. Subscribe to our channel! http://goo.gl/0bsAjO Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling) Guest: Alison Gopnik (@AlisonGopnik) Chapter Titles 00:00 Intro 00:48 The differences between the minds of children and the minds of adults 07:21 Humanity’s long childhood 14:27 Why is it hard for adults to be playful? 17:09 What do we lose when we move from childhood to adulthood? 22:42 Can LLMs think like children? 33:10 How to encourage kids to be kids We would love to hear from you. To tell us what you thought of this episode, email us at thegrayarea@vox.com or leave us a voicemail at 1-800-214-5749. Your comments and questions help us make a better show. And you can watch new episodes of The Gray Area on YouTube. New episodes drop every Monday and Friday. Listen to The Gray Area ad-free by becoming a Vox Member: vox.com/members. 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. Watch our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/IZONyE Follow Vox on Facebook: http://goo.gl/U2g06o Or Twitter: http://goo.gl/XFrZ5H
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