Re: A view of powerful cities in dated history, as seen through Science Fiction - A C Clarke

On Fri, 21 Aug 2020 14:32:15 -0700, a425couple wrote:

> "not by chance alone could those mighty ships have come to rest so
> precisely over New York, London, Moscow, Canberra,
> Rome, Capetown, Tokyo..."
> 
> It is interesting to me how he totally skips over China, India, or any
> Middle Eastern power, yet to be.
> But then, this was just one sentence in a fictional story.

Maybe he wanted to list the fewest cities that comprise the
maximum number of likely readers of his work (note Capetown,
Canberra). There's probably a mathematical term for that, but
I can't think of it.

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