TV and radio legend Larry King, who hosts two web-based shows on Ora TV, loves cryonics. In an interview with Reason, the 81-year-old talker extraordinaire explains why. And dishes on politics (he's New Deal Democrat who agrees with "half" of what libertarians believe), celebrities, baseball, and how he would have interviewed Osama bin Laden. Most improbably, he defends the old "equal time" rules enforced by the FCC. It's a fun, rollicking conversation between him and Nick Gillespie.
Full transcript, more links, and downloadable versions here.
A snippet:
Reason: Are you still into cryonics?
King: Yes. I'm putting it in my will. I'll tell you why. I'm an atheist. Most libertarians should be atheists.
Reason: Many are.
King: To believe in something above you. You don't believe in anything!
Reason: I believe in all sorts of things. But yes, you don't believe in an after life, so you want to be around.
King: I want to be around to pick up the pieces. That's an old song. But yes, I want to be around, and the only possible guarantee is cryonics, where they inject you with a compound that will keep you and put you in a tube, and if they cure the disease, they wake you up.
Reason: And you're gonna talk to Ted Williams when you wake up.
King: They don't put your head in a jar, that's a misnomer. I was just on Dr. Oz's show, and he showed me exactly how they do it. They take the body and immediately put an injection in to keep the blood flowing.
Reason: You're not betting on Dr. Oz as your afterlife physician, are you?
King: I'll take anybody.
Reason: So when you wake up-
King: You don't like Dr. Oz?
Reason: Dr. Oz, there's a lot of ethical questions about his snake oil-
King: The government shouldn't control it.
Reason: No I don't think so, absolutely not, he should be free to sell stuff, and people should be free to critique it and analyze it and offer an independent evaluation. Other than the people who wake you up from cryonics, who would be the first people on your talk show panel?
King: Depends what year it is and who's around? But I would ask questions, I'll meet new people and find out-
Reason: So, you, Ted Williams' head, and maybe a couple people who are just from the current time?
King: Walt Disney.
And what does he like about Rand Paul? Click above or go here.
