Re: Optimal location of world capital

On Feb 24, 8:36=A0am, Hardcow...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 wrote:
> Let's ignore the existing international relations of economy and power
> and assume we get complete freedom to choose on the basis of location
> and population distribution. What city would be the best choice as
> capital of an imagined utopian world state where all nations are equal?

I notice a lot of folks are assuming things like launch sites and
space elevators.  While that's a reasonable enough assumption to make
on rec.arts.sf, I feel obliged to point out that advanced technology
was never part of Hardcow's original post.  The "imagined utopian
world state" could, _in principle_, be pre-industrial.

That would also answer Mr. Warkus' objection that:

> Location and population distribution are irrelevant criteria, because
> these days, viability as a capital is not dependent upon economic
> strength or how long people take to reach it on foot anymore.

Although his multiple-capital suggestion is still plausible.  Even
Bronze Age empires often had more than one capital: Persia, for
example.