Welcome to the Show!
It’s 5 O’Clock! I’m Theral Timpson. This is a new channel some years in the making. Here’s the story.
Who are we? We’re a couple of friends who got into podcasting a dozen years ago in the life science field with Mendelspod (www.mendelspod.com), named after the father of human genetics. The podcast was a great leap into the unknown for both of us. We began by covering biology in general, but our audience quickly drew us into the specialty of genomics in which I had some experience, having founded a startup in genetic testing. The podcast has always been for an expert audience. On the program, we have interviewed great biologists, business leaders, journalists, and other KOLs in this exciting field. Mendelspod is still our day job. Providing "a front-row seat to the Century of Biology" has been a calling for both of us.
At the same time, a new project began to bubble to the surface a couple of years ago. We are launching it today. Ayanna and I have lived somewhat like the 18th Century man and woman of letters. We read all day—she does. I stop long enough to interview and spend some time at the piano. We meet for breakfast or lunch to compare notes and hear about what interests the other. From time to time we have commented, if we were to put out to an audience some of the conversations, some of the beautiful tidbits that we have shared, if we were to pursue a podcast for the general audience the variety of topics of interest in our daily lives—on art, philosophy, science, music, history, and politics-- with guests from various walks of life—this—this would be quite a show.
That is Five O’Clock! There is more to it than sharing random tidbits. We’d like to create a show that is something that inspires and challenges at the highest level, but at the same time doesn’t take itself too seriously. This is wind-down time, perhaps something for the end of the day. We don’t want to tell you when you listen to your podcasts, but this is what we have in mind. We get that after a day in the office, often we just want to eat and turn on some good television. But on those evenings when you might be ready to contemplate some of the great wonders of life or think about life itself—who are we as people? is work all there is?—we’ll be there reviewing a good YouTube video or telling you about some good music we recently heard, or perhaps talking to a good biographer, journalist, or chef. What are your thoughts on the new AI?
June is Pride month, and for our first podcast we’ll be delving into the story behind Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with America’s favorite music historian, Bob Greenberg. Did you know Tchaikovsky got married? It lasted three weeks. Our first article questions the doom and gloom that has arrived with generative AI. In our second podcast, history professor Jonathan Sperber puts forth a different take on the philosopher/economist/activist Karl Marx. Marx theorized that the driving energy of our lives is economical. It is the impetus to get by. This could be, but I have always disagreed with Marx’s materialism even though I do think he is one of the two greatest influences on modern man. (The other would be Charles Darwin.) There is something in me that says we are more than just creatures who get by, even if we have to explore that after 5 O’Clock after we have made sure we can just "get by."
Enjoy the show!