# How do the aliens know where to attack? (Independence Day, etc) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 14, 2004, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-aliens-know-where-to-attack-independence-day-etc/254989 "2004-07-14T00:23:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rexnervous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@rexnervous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rexnervous)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-aliens-know-where-to-attack-independence-day-etc/254989/1 "2004-07-14T00:23:12Z")
In countless movies (well, maybe not countless, but at least a couple) the Evil Aliens from System X (EASX) always seem to know what the most important places to attack are. You know, that the White House is the (American) seat of power. And that the Empire State Building is an Important Psychological Building. And tall buildings \> short buildings. So, outside of dumb screenwriting and artistic license, why and how would they know to do this. Assume your basic average EASX, recently arrived at our system (even if they’ve had time to study from afar) but unable to live amongst us or understand our language(s). They could clearly tell population levels, construction density, quantity of signal traffic (radio, TV, etc), electrical consumption, and other things similar. What would lead them to the White House? To the Empire State building? Just curious. ---
**Author:** ![START](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@START](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/START)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-aliens-know-where-to-attack-independence-day-etc/254989/2 "2004-07-14T01:21:38Z")
We hear on earth have intelligence agencies like the CIA well if the alines are supposed to be much more advanced than we and visit earth every so often with out attacking then they simply have their own version of the CIA, KGB, or FBI gathering intelligence on where our capitals and large and/or major cities are. Alien Intelligence Agency. ---
**Author:** ![START](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@START](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/START)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-aliens-know-where-to-attack-independence-day-etc/254989/3 "2004-07-14T01:23:18Z")
> [@START](#): > > We hear on earth have intelligence agencies like the CIA well if the alines are supposed to be much more advanced than we and visit earth every so often with out attacking then they simply have their own version of the CIA, KGB, or FBI gathering intelligence on where our capitals and large and/or major cities are. > Alien Intelligence Agency. so embarassed…“We \*hear \* on earth…” :smack: ---
**Author:** ![bughunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aeb1de/32.png) [@bughunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bughunter)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-aliens-know-where-to-attack-independence-day-etc/254989/4 "2004-07-14T01:26:47Z")
The same way _you_ know that they’re important cultural and administrative centers: **Television** The only reason they haven’t invaded yet is that they’re scared shitless of the _USS Enterprise_. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-aliens-know-where-to-attack-independence-day-etc/254989/5 "2004-07-14T01:28:02Z")
> [@START](#): > > so embarassed…“We \*hear \* on earth…” :smack: That’s OK–we don’t expect the invading overlords to be great spellers, also. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![dotchan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@dotchan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dotchan)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-aliens-know-where-to-attack-independence-day-etc/254989/6 "2004-07-14T01:28:03Z")
Assuming the invading aliens have some sort of civilization, they’d probably be able to recognize what cities are, and perhaps deduce some sort of importance in buildings that are tall or have unusual architecture. And cities are the definitely the most visible man-made structures from outer space. Or maybe they mistake the buildings for life-forms (a la coral reefs)… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Murcielago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Murcielago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Murcielago)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-aliens-know-where-to-attack-independence-day-etc/254989/7 "2004-07-14T01:32:27Z")
It’s all about the Monuments, they are like bull’s-eye targets for the aliens. That’s one of the benefits of living on the West Coast, no structures of cultural significance to mark us for attack. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-aliens-know-where-to-attack-independence-day-etc/254989/8 "2004-07-14T01:36:52Z")
This reminds me of a passage from David Thomson’s indispensable **Biographical Dictionary of Film** : > [@](#): > > In September 1993, at London’s National Film Theatre, H.R.H. Prince Charles presented Clint Eastwood with the fellowship of the British Film Institute. Their briefly shared stage was a fascinating study in celebrity and fame’s divinity. A visitor from another planet, advised on how to recognize modern royalty–its natural eminence, its grace and authority, its sense of divine right made agnostic in simple glamour–would have had no doubt which man was the prince. In a tuxedo, with close-cut salt and silver hair, a gaunt head, and a tranquil boy’s smile, Clint may be as good as sixty-three has ever looked. About a month before the date in London, he had had a child by the actress Frances Fisher (from _Unforgiven_). There had been no scandal or mockery. Nearly everything that comes to Eastwwood now is rendered fitting by his majesty. Whereas, Charles Windsor (he sounds like a spiv who sells secondhand cars off the South Circular Road) can hardly pick up the phone without making himself a laughingstock, and he could not stand beside Clint without looking uneasy, a sad fidget, a tailor’s dummy denied life or glory. ---
**Author:** ![rexnervous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@rexnervous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rexnervous)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-aliens-know-where-to-attack-independence-day-etc/254989/9 "2004-07-14T01:52:04Z")
> [@dotchan](#): > > Assuming the invading aliens have some sort of civilization, they’d probably be able to recognize what cities are, and perhaps deduce some sort of importance in buildings that are tall or have unusual architecture. And cities are the definitely the most visible man-made structures from outer space. True, but _the White House_? I would think that the Pentagon would seem a much more obvious place to attack - not only because of size, but because of geometry. The White House etc really aren’t all that special. And why even Washington D.C.? Actually, I like the television answer. Enough years of watching TV (even without the language) and they could probably deduce something about certain places. That is if they don’t attack shampoo and detergent factories first. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-aliens-know-where-to-attack-independence-day-etc/254989/10 "2004-07-14T02:36:40Z")
> [@Murcielago](#): > > That’s one of the benefits of living on the West Coast, no structures of cultural significance to mark us for attack. Not if you commute over the Golden Gate Bridge, it’s not. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-aliens-know-where-to-attack-independence-day-etc/254989/11 "2004-07-14T05:50:04Z")
> [@Murcielago](#): > > It’s all about the Monuments, they are like bull’s-eye targets for the aliens. That’s one of the benefits of living on the West Coast, no structures of cultural significance to mark us for attack. The west coast of what? I can name quite a few on the US west coast, including: The Space Needle, The Golden Gate Bridge and the Transamerica pyramid(one of the most recognizable buildings in SF, at least in my view). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Long\_Road](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5a626/32.png) [@The\_Long\_Road](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Long_Road)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-aliens-know-where-to-attack-independence-day-etc/254989/12 "2004-07-14T06:01:21Z")
So I am going to bring up one of the main things that has bothered me about Independence Day since I saw the movie so many years ago. The aliens have complete control of the skies, they are way(!) ahead of us in technology and they go from planet to planet using up resources like locusts and then moving on. So why in the heck would they vaporize all the cities on the planet? Cities would be the prime spots for resources. Why not spray chemical or biological weapons and kill the majority of the people. After that, the ground troops(shown in the mother ship) could have easily killed the few survivors. While it obviously makes for a much less exciting movie, it’s simply too large of a plot hole to ignore. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-aliens-know-where-to-attack-independence-day-etc/254989/13 "2004-07-14T06:08:32Z")
My guess is that they use infrared technology–or they _see_ in the infrared–and where ever there is the most red, or heat generated by humans, they bomb the shit out of it. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-aliens-know-where-to-attack-independence-day-etc/254989/14 "2004-07-14T06:16:14Z")
Los Angeles would be pretty hard…no huge, towering landmarks. The aliens’d probably end up death-raying the microwave transmitters at a TV studio, thinking it was a military communications hub, or something. Seriously, though…what’s the objective of the aliens? To wipe out military and political structures as a prelude to invasion, or just to exterminate intelligent life? The latter might be easier…just indescriminately nuke all the obvious major urban areas, where the population density and concentration would be greatest, anyway. Afterwards, attack anything not in an urban area (Cheyanne Mountain, Aircraft Carriers, etc.) that’s giving off a radio (or whatever) signal. Of course, that battle plan might become useless if the aliens run across a world like, say, the future Earth in Clifford Simak’s _City_, where AI robots, clone-vat food production, advanced telepresence, and other technologies have rendered cities obsolete, and the entire civilization has become decentralized. Wiping such a civilization out would be…very hard, I would think. ---
**Author:** ![Murcielago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Murcielago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Murcielago)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-aliens-know-where-to-attack-independence-day-etc/254989/15 "2004-07-14T06:21:08Z")
Oh, don’t be so parochial, **Miller** and **HPL**. I’m sure the aliens will attack your favorite places once they are done with the historical buildings in D.C. I’m only kidding anyway, I’ve never wanted to live anywhere but out here. Still, I laugh when I remember an attempt to save an L.A. area McDonalds from destruction by declaring it an historic landmark. Even as a kid I found the debate rather sad. ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-aliens-know-where-to-attack-independence-day-etc/254989/16 "2004-07-14T06:29:43Z")
> [@rexnervous](#): > > True, but the White House? I would think that the Pentagon would seem a much more obvious place to attack - not only because of size, but because of geometry. The White House etc really aren’t all that special. We’ve drawn big arrows right at the White House and the Capitol Building. [See what I mean?](http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?t=4&s=13&x=202&y=2692&z=18&w=2) Washington D.C. was planned geometrically, and thus those buildings were prominently featured. The Pentagon came later, and didn’t fit in the plan. ---
**Author:** ![Gamaliel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b487fb/32.png) [@Gamaliel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gamaliel)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-aliens-know-where-to-attack-independence-day-etc/254989/17 "2004-07-14T06:46:15Z")
> [@The Long Road](#): > > Cities would be the prime spots for resources. Depends on the resource. If you want slave labor or concrete, the city is the place to go, but no so much if you want minerals, water, or other natural resources. ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-aliens-know-where-to-attack-independence-day-etc/254989/18 "2004-07-14T06:51:06Z")
Well, the aliens in Spielberg’s _Close Encounters of the Third Kind_ invaded at Devil’s Mountain, Wyoming, in the middle of freakin’ nowhere. What? They were nice aliens? Ok so they don’t count… > [@Garfield226](#): > > We’ve drawn big arrows right at the White House and the Capitol Building. > > [See what I mean?](http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?t=4&s=13&x=202&y=2692&z=18&w=2) Hmm, I think the Capitol building looks more centrally located…that’s where I’d aim my big Mega-Destructo Cosmic Laser, if I had one. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-aliens-know-where-to-attack-independence-day-etc/254989/19 "2004-07-14T07:01:11Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > Seriously, though…what’s the objective of the aliens? To wipe out military and political structures as a prelude to invasion, or just to exterminate intelligent life? Terrorism. ---
**Author:** ![Antonius\_Block](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Antonius\_Block](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antonius_Block)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-aliens-know-where-to-attack-independence-day-etc/254989/20 "2004-07-14T08:27:19Z")
> [@Garfield226](#): > > We’ve drawn big arrows right at the White House and the Capitol Building. > > [See what I mean?](http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?t=4&s=13&x=202&y=2692&z=18&w=2) But wait! The Department of Homeland Security is \*way \* ahead of the aliens! If you zoom in on the [White House](http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?t=4&s=9&x=3234&y=43073&z=18&w=2) or the [US Capitol](http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?t=4&s=11&x=814&y=10766&z=18&w=2) (as well as the Senate and House buildings) from the above link, you’ll note that the close-up images are altered or pixelated. That’ll confound those darn aliens (assuming, of course, they are not content with the [black and white](http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?t=1&s=11&x=814&y=10766&z=18&w=2) images from the same site)! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-aliens-know-where-to-attack-independence-day-etc/254989.md?page=2)