Get real... - Independence Day (1996) Discussion

How do you know that?

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He clearly didn't watch the movie..

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[–] bigbadwolf666 (4707) 3 years ago

Aliens would have advance weapons and intelligence sort of like in the movie but since it's a movie the humans have weapons that can offset their superiority.

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[–] Sparky123 (1658) 3 years ago

How do you know that?

ET was more advanced but they didn't have/use weapons against us.

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[–] bigbadwolf666 (4707) 3 years ago

Obviously if anything came here from out of space it would have superior technology given that we never actually invaded anything and the way they are portrayed does show that advancement except in the plot.

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[–] kungfulord (957) 3 years ago

If they can navigate space and came here they can kill us because their technology is advanced in a level we ca not even understand, they are advanced enoguh to travel faster than the speed of light wich is impossible so far our knowledge of physics tell us, (not only that their knowledge of physics is so advanced they can transported entire armys to the speed or light or at least trough wormholes) only with that you know they understand physics to a level we dont and they must been centuries if not thousand of years more advanced and smarter than us, and we should assume than every aspect of their technology would be more advanced and efficient not only their knowledge of ohysics but also weapons, Biology, robotics, and their strategie capacity, they could absorve the energy of any weapon of mass destruction that we could launch against them, their knowdlege of biology and phisical regeneration must be also way more advanced so any harm their soldiers suffer would be nothing they can fixed and regenerated, that if they fight us phisical (wich would be absurd) and dont just send some sort of militar artificial inteligence to attack us while they comand everything at a distace we cant reach

The movie is entertaining but also moronic just try to infect a modern computer with a virus from 1995 or viceversa or better yet try to infect an moder Mac with a virus from Windows 10 now try to infect an alien computer with a technology maybe quantic or just god know what with a virus create in a computer Windows or Mac to be honest that kinda of ruin the movie for me. In his moment 1996 people dindt know much about computer and virus so wasen't a big deal but now is a pretty big weak point in the plot

If a alien specie appear in the sky some day we should beg they came in peace because we just cant fight a race inteligent enough to travel trough space and we arent going to be at least for the next centuries or so

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[–] MovieChatUser497 (18943) 3 years ago

Because the fact that they are actually able to make it to Earth shows that they outdo us exponentially in terms of technology.

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[–] mrbnk (408) 3 years ago

As soon as they arrive, we would be their puppets.

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[–] bigbadwolf666 (4707) 3 years ago

We already are.

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[–] mrbnk (408) 3 years ago

Haha, nice one :)

No, we're like, the wage slaves of politicians and huge corporations. That's not what i'm talking about. I mean something like, the Anunnaki comes, all of a sudden the entire human population starts speaking Sumerian, which is revealed to be a very simplified version of the language of the Aliens.

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[–] aavfreak (2861) 3 years ago

I agree. Any alien species that has mastered interstellar travel will have weapons and technology beyond our comprehension or imagination.

It's shortsighted to think they'd even travel in spaceships. It will more likely be some sort of inter-dimensional travel. The "weapons," if you want to call them that, would likely not be projectile or energy beam type. I would imagine they'd subdue the entirety of Earth's population in a single event, with whatever technology it is they have.

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[–] Costumer (1785) 3 years ago

You are making the common error of assuming that all technology advances at the same rate. It doesn't. A common example can be found on earth.

The Aztecs never used the wheel for useful work. It was a curiosity to them and found only in toys.
Europeans developed firearms.
Native North Americans had advanced farm technology greater than Europe's
Easter Asia developed gunpowder far earlier than anyone else.

It is entirely possible for a culture to develop ftl technology and not develop weaponry much in advance of ours.

Now, in ID4, they had developed weapons more advanced than ours. However, it is possible for a culture with lesser technology to defeat a greater one; depending on tactics, strategy, and luck.

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[–] aavfreak (2861) 3 years ago

You're talking about disparate primitive societies, before globalization. That makes little sense given the context.

Are you suggesting that a single Earth culture could develop interstellar travel, but not take along other advanced forms of technology that exist on Earth? This analogy couldn't possibly fit here.

It would be more like saying the Europeans developed intercontinental oceanic travel, but didn't bring the advanced firearms that they had with them when they crossed the Atlantic.

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[–] Costumer (1785) 3 years ago

What I am saying is that a culture could develop ftl technology, but still use projectile style weapons such as guns. That their medical technology may be no more advanced than ours. That their computer technology might not be any different from ours (and by this I am not saying operating systems and such wouldn't be different, just the base technology).

Technological advancement simply doesn't happen in a uniform way. You cannot say because a culture has this technology it must have this other technology.

So, imagine that the no cultures on Earth developed the wheel as useful technology. They could go into space without using the wheel.

We could develop ftl technology and meet the inhabitants of another world who never left their own planet but who could cure any disease we can imagine and correct any injury.

These examples are likely the way things will be if we meet other species. We will be more advanced than they are in some ways, they will be more advanced than we are in other ways. Both of us able to learn from the other.

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[–] aavfreak (2861) 3 years ago

I can't pick up what you're putting down. Technology may not develop equally across all categories, but it does advance significantly, especially when crossing eras. Agricultural revolution, industrial revolution, space age, etc...

Imagine if we had two identical, parallel Earths from different moments in time - one as we are today and another that has only advanced to the 1800s. If we, as the current Earth, decided to invade the 1800s Earth and confiscate their resources, please tell me, which technology would we bring along that would not be so significantly advanced beyond theirs that they could possibly stand a chance of defending themselves?

Transportation, communication, energy, medical, agricultural - all so much more advanced than a short while ago. And that's just comparing us to our own selves from just 150 years back. The difference between us now and 1800s Earth would be miniscule compared to the difference between us now and an interstellar alien species.

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[–] Costumer (1785) 3 years ago

The problem is that one technology does not advance significantly just because another does. I mentioned the difference between North America and Europe. NA agriculture was significantly more advanced than Europe. European metallurgy and weapons technology was significantly more advanced than NA's. Cultures develop technology they need. If they don't need it, they don't necessarily develop it.

Let me give you a different example. Imagine a species who evolved from a largely herbivorous ancestor. That species may not be as aggressive toward each other as humans can be. They can easily develop agriculture, and metal technology. They develop transportation devices, and computer, and even ships to leave their planet and ftl technology. But they never developed weapons technology, either at all or more likely beyond a simple need; perhaps little beyond the musket, if that.

They meet a species that has not yet learned to leave their home planet. But this species developed from aggressive carnivores. Weapons technology was a big concern for them. They have advanced guns even better than our best firearms; possibly even easily made and usable directed energy weapons.

The herbivores land and the carnivores rip them up. Despite the herbivores being able to travel between stars they simply do not have the weapons or defenses to handle the carnivores.

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[–] BourbonKing (5612) 3 years ago

What's unreal is the use of lateral warfare. It's like introducing modern warfare tactics into the past, let's say the US military vs the Roman legion BUT they engage in battle in an open field, one side facing another.

Aliens in this movie can traverse the galaxy at some form of light speed so their starships don't even have to be manned or armed with laser guns. All they'd need to do is use any number of their advanced technologies to eradicate humans from their mother ship. Their smaller, but still big, disc ships already had mega lasers that can wipe out metropolitan centers so this notion that the human military complex has time to respond was a joke AND this was done without integrating any of the Alien's technology that the US supposedly had at Area 51, so that little plot line was a bit stupid.

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[–] TimMC (9143) 3 years ago

Captain Randy Quaid saved the Earth and her inhabitants from certain doom.

Where is his statue?

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[–] Burk48917 (10967) 3 years ago

Despite our technology, humans still die from insect bites to this day, just as an example. Technology can't anticipate every eventuality.

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[–] Alerra (244) 3 years ago

Which is why the computer virus solution makes sense. Exactly because we CAN'T out gun them. So we come up with something small and internal that the aliens have never seen. Presumably, the aliens have taken over other worlds just as militaristically advanced as ours and were thinking we would come after them with guns and nukes and torpedoes. They weren't expecting us to hack them. It's basically a more technologically advanced version of War of the Worlds, using a computer virus instead of bacteria.

(Now, I personally think the bacteria angle is a bit more likely, but there we are. I don't watch this movie for its scientific accuracy.)

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[–] Freeion (111) 3 years ago

I do have to agree that technology isn't a linear progression... so we can't honestly say military might would be comparable. But the movie aliens are very militaristic and outrank us in every way. There is no excuse for humans winning the day.

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