# 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:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**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, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-aliens-know-where-to-attack-independence-day-etc/254989/21 "2004-07-14T15:25:37Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > Terrorism. The aliens hate our freedom. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ea5d25/32.png) [@Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Scrappy_Hero_Pup)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-aliens-know-where-to-attack-independence-day-etc/254989/22 "2004-07-14T15:35:57Z")
Wait a minute. You’re telling me that these aliens have discovered space travel, created massively powerful weapons of destruction, and yet would not be able to figure out where to attack? Those are some mighty ADD aliens, if ya ask me. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-aliens-know-where-to-attack-independence-day-etc/254989/23 "2004-07-14T16:11:45Z")
a. The aliens in Independence Day had been snooping around for a while. Remember, they had lost the Roswell saucer during one of their scouting missions. Plenty of time to locate the tourist traps. b. Anal probes. “Hey, what are you alien freaks sticking up there? The Washington Monument???” ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-aliens-know-where-to-attack-independence-day-etc/254989/24 "2004-07-14T16:27:06Z")
The physical destruction of everything is pretty crude. A more subtle, yet effective, approach would be to pinpoint a biological weak link, as in this classic James Tiptree, Jr. (A.K.A. Raccoona Sheldon) [short story](http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/sheldon/sheldon1.html). ---
**Author:** ![mrklutz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@mrklutz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrklutz)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-aliens-know-where-to-attack-independence-day-etc/254989/25 "2004-07-14T16:51:52Z")
They identify critical points to attack the same way Rowlf found the rest of the gang in _The Muppet Movie_: (paraphrase from memory) “I checked the script. Exterior. Desert. Night.” ---
**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, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-aliens-know-where-to-attack-independence-day-etc/254989/26 "2004-07-14T21:48:22Z")
> [@Gamaliel](#): > > 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. I’m mostly thinking of metals. If you are after metals, cities would be the place for 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 15, 2004, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-aliens-know-where-to-attack-independence-day-etc/254989/27 "2004-07-15T00:50:31Z")
Mars Needs…Bethlehem Steel? ---
**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 15, 2004, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-aliens-know-where-to-attack-independence-day-etc/254989/28 "2004-07-15T01:35:54Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > Mars Needs…Bethlehem Steel? John Travolta needed Gold. Maybe Phil the Martian needs some Bethlehem Steel. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-aliens-know-where-to-attack-independence-day-etc/254989/29 "2004-07-19T08:20:04Z")
> [@mrklutz](#): > > They identify critical points to attack the same way Rowlf found the rest of the gang in _The Muppet Movie_: > > (paraphrase from memory) > > “I checked the script. Exterior. Desert. Night.” [nitpick]Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. Rowlf was already with Kermit, et. al.[/nitpick] ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-aliens-know-where-to-attack-independence-day-etc/254989/30 "2004-07-19T10:46:17Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > [nitpick]Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. Rowlf was already with Kermit, et. al.[/nitpick] They don’t look like Presbyterians to me. ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-aliens-know-where-to-attack-independence-day-etc/254989/31 "2004-07-19T22:46:19Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Not if you commute over the Golden Gate Bridge, it’s not. And if someone somehow poisions the Central Valley… Bye Bye Veggies! ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-aliens-know-where-to-attack-independence-day-etc/254989/32 "2004-07-20T00:17:26Z")
If those aliens were so damn smart, they would have taken out the airbases first. There would be plenty of time to level the cities after the defenses had been taken care of. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-aliens-know-where-to-attack-independence-day-etc/254989/33 "2004-07-20T01:16:01Z")
> [@Manduck](#): > > If those aliens were so damn smart, they would have taken out the airbases first. There would be plenty of time to level the cities after the defenses had been taken care of. yeah, but why does it matter since every attack will result in 90%(at least) losses for Earth and the ship won’t be harmed anyway? How were the aliens supposed to know that they had found the one planet in the entire universe that, by sheer conincidence, uses the exact same OS’s on their computers as they do, ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-aliens-know-where-to-attack-independence-day-etc/254989/34 "2004-07-20T01:21:11Z")
Crap. That should be an “?” at the end. Besides, the ID4 aliens could easily beat the crap out of the **Signs** Aliens, who were apparently as dumb as a poverbial post. Either that or the entire thing was a method of killing off their surplus population by dumping them on Earth. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-aliens-know-where-to-attack-independence-day-etc/254989/35 "2004-07-20T01:55:15Z")
> [@](#): > > How were the aliens supposed to know that they had found the one planet in the entire universe that, by sheer conincidence, uses the exact same OS’s on their computers as they do. You’ve gotta love the fact that an Apple laptop, which isn’t compatible with most Earth computers, can interface flawlessly with a totally alien spacecraft 😃 ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-aliens-know-where-to-attack-independence-day-etc/254989/36 "2004-07-20T03:15:38Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > You’ve gotta love the fact that an Apple laptop, which isn’t compatible with most Earth computers, can interface flawlessly with a totally alien spacecraft 😃 Maybe Steve Jobs is in fact an alien who crashed landed on earth, say…in 1947? He built the Mac to give the earth a fighting chance in the war. That or perhaps Macintosh has been breaking tech export laws by selling Macs to creatures from other star systems? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-aliens-know-where-to-attack-independence-day-etc/254989.md?page=1)