SYMBOL

[Tim May]

On Saturday, September 15, 2001, at 07:28 PM, Eric Cordian wrote:

>> I agree with this.  The Twin Towers should be built bigger than before
>> (twice as big if it's feasible).  I know some people would be scared
>> to have office space in there, but that's fine, because people who are
>> not scared will take space there, and everyone will know it.  I would
>> take an office on the 200th floor if I could.
>
> Are you aware that India is going to open a 224 story 2222 foot tower
> for business in 2008?
>
> It's the Center of India Tower, in Katangi, India.  I believe it has a
> webpage somewhere.
>

A Schelling point target for the Pakistanis, the Sikhs, the Tamil 
Tigers, and the Bovine Liberation Army. (Says India, "We are not cowed 
by the BLA!")

People can work in anthills if they want to...I'm glad I don't have to 
go _near_ these places.

They can rebuild the Towering Infernos if they wish to, with insurance 
money, but the taxpayer should not pay a single dime for the Heights of 
Hubris to be rebuilt. Let them stand or fall, so to speak, on their own 
merits.

I predict they'll be economic disasters if rebuilt: firms are scrambling 
to find the 10 million square feet of lost office space, 15 million 
counting nearby buildings damaged or collapsed. Those firms will likely 
have either left Manhattan or will have settled in to other new office 
buildings. Decentralization, a la NASDAQ and Napster-like trading 
systems will further cause a diaspora. Rebuilt towers would come on the 
market after all of this. Granted, this happened in 1970-74, when the 
two towers were opened, but developers had known about it for a decade 
and so it was part of the plans. And in any case, a real estate 
recession hit Manhattan in the mid-70s, possibly made worse by all that 
square footage added. Unlikely that a free market investor would choose 
to build 10 million square feet of space in one project.

Notice that there was no evidence of plucking people off the rooftops 
with helicopters, no signs of aerial fire-fighting? These buildings are 
deathtraps.

--Tim May