Wolf Gnards
Nerding Pop Culture
How the Computer Virus Worked in Independence Day
From Gabe:
I have a topic I was wondering if you could tackle, though. Specifically: (how) is it possible that computer technology in 1996 could have infiltrated and infected the aliens' technology to defeat them [in the movie Independence Day]? Was it advanced enough at that time for that task? Thanks so much for your time and I look forward to future articles!
The Independence Day plan hinged on 1. Fixing alien technology 2. Flying alien technology into outer space (complete with chairs made for human butts) 3. Docking with the alien mothership 4. Beaming a virus onto alien mothership. 5. Then escape from exploding alien mothership. There are a great number of assumptions that go into this plan, the least of which were the technologies matching up. You have to assume the spaceship is in working condition and is space worthy. This was the Roswell crash ship, so you would think that it crashed for a reason (plus fiery crashes usually have adverse effects on things). You have to also assume the mothership would be eager to tractor beam in any old passing ship. And you have to assume that not only the mothership had Wi-Fi, but they forgot to switch on the password protection. Yes, they used our satellites, but why would we assume beaming a code to them would be an option? And of course they forgot to install their alien Norton's. But besides all that it's a perfect plan.
As to the technology behind the daring-dos of Independence Day, there are three possible explanations.
Computers Come From Aliens
A PC can communicate with alien ship because a PC is alien technology. Let's follow this conspiracy theory white rabbit as far as it can go. The famous Roswell crash happened in 1947, and while super computers using vacuum tubes were around in the early 40's, superior transistor and microchip technology wasn't around until the 60's and 70's. Aliens! In fact, one of the first working transistors was developed in 1947... coincidence? Of course, but I'm willing to except it. The problem is less about the hardware than the software. As far as I know, we don't code in alien languages. Now you can simplify everything and just say that binary code and math is a universal language, but we have ones and zeroes and aliens could have gleepglops and meatzorps. Might not mesh, luckily the aliens were also running windows. Yes, Bill Gates stole Windows not from Apple but from Area 51.
It's an Alien Virus
We assume that we made the virus, that a hand full of nerds managed to code a massive alien computer virus in a few hours, but it's more likely the virus is alien in origin. The Roswell ship malfunctioned for a reason, right? The aliens were probably downloading some hot alien porn (Check out the forums already devoted to Avatar's Neytiri), and picked up some alien spam that crashed their system. They did need to get worked up after all for all that farm boy anal probing. All we needed to do was isolate an already existing virus on a ship we had 50 years to play with, and spread it to the other alien ships, most likely in an email titled “You've inherited a large sum of money from a dead uncle who is totally not an earthing on a suicide mission, but a real alien like yourself.” Works every time.
It's Jeff Goldblum!
Mission accomplished. That's all you need to say: Jeff Goldblum. It's like saying McGyver in the 80's. The Independence Day script ended: And then Jeff Goldblum Jeff Goldblummed the hell out of it, Will Smith lights cigar... The End. We know Jeff Goldblum is the world's best scientist... in movies, whatever wacky plan he comes up with will work. In cinema, Einstein's formula is E=mcGoldblum. The world didn't fight for its independence, Jeff Goldblum Jeff Goldblummed for his Jeff Goldblum. Goldblum!
| Print article | This entry was posted by Wolfie G. Nards on 01/15/10 at 12:50:13 am . Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. |
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01/15/10 @ 06:45:08 am
Maybe Jeff Goldblum (or his character, at least) is secretly an alien!
01/15/10 @ 09:17:48 am
Thank you Wolfie, for answering yet another question from my 8-year-old self.
01/16/10 @ 09:22:35 pm
"And then Jeff Goldblum Jeff Goldblummed the hell out of it..."
That is one of the best lines I have heard in reference to Jeff Goldblum and it is so damn true.
01/19/10 @ 03:12:05 pm
It wasn't wifi. According to Wikipedia, the original version of the standard IEEE 802.11 was released in 1997. /pedant
Obviously, he used 802.goldblum to upload the virus.
01/25/10 @ 05:12:59 am
Thanks for posting this. It's good information and frankly, a lot of it needed to be said.
07/07/10 @ 01:40:47 pm
In my expert opinion, I would have to say that the most startling ineptitude on the part of the aliens is neither their failure to erect a firewall but their total inability to notice that a fifty-year old spacecraft coming in for a landing is unusual. Had they brought a bunch of jalopies with them for the invasion? Because otherwise it's the equivalent of an air traffic control person stationed on a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier during the most recent Iraq war not batting an eye when a Flying Fortress comes rumbling up asking for permission to land. Having ancient military vehicles appear out of nowhere should be worthy of note on even the most humdrum day; in the midst of an actual battle, however, it probably deserves a second look.
07/20/10 @ 02:34:51 am
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09/02/10 @ 05:51:06 am
Interesting article with Numerous useful advises. Thank you very A great deal, I?l Begin reading your blog.
09/07/10 @ 11:30:53 am
Yikes this definitely takes me back, do you twitter?
10/02/10 @ 12:30:40 pm
Seriously, every movie should end with Jeff Goldblum Jeff Goldbluming the hell out of everything. Ok, maybe not every movie but I can think of several that would be vastly improved by this.
11/07/10 @ 09:47:14 am
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Thanks
12/07/10 @ 12:48:32 am
Love it. I equate this to the same thing as cookie based advertising. tr.
01/24/11 @ 11:31:48 pm
You got a really great blog I have been here reading for about half an hour. I am a newbie and your post is valuable for me….
04/16/11 @ 12:37:49 pm
Assuming they knew they'd lost a ship here, I don't think the old ship showing up would have given them pause. It seems to hinge on their power. The scientists said they could figure out the hardware (so they could repair it), but not the power. The presence of the mother ship was shown to turn on the power on the crash ship. It's not a stretch to believe that the ships are programmed to find their way back to the mother ship when it returns. So the ship lies dormant for years, the mother ship shows up, lights up the engines and the ship flies itself home. The presence of anyone in the ship (even aliens) would have been odd, and I have no idea why you would fly it right into the middle of the ship. Repair yards/holding areas would be better around the edge than in the middle, but they don't give you quite the same view.
As for the virus, I think it's possible if the protocol they used to transmit the force field was the same as the protocol they used to transmit to the human satellites. They had to adapt their system to human technology to use the satellites, and if they opened it up enough and left it unprotected enough, you might be able to figure out their hack and use it against them. So you don't need to know the workings of the system, just how to clog the pipes. Of course, that death's head...
That's a couple ifs, but they both probably hinge on hubris, so I'm willing to believe that's possible. Of course, I'm not really good with the concept of using our satellites to communicate when the mother ship is full of smaller ships and they could have deployed a few of their own to get around any line-of-sight issues. A lot safer all around. But it does line up with the hubris idea. If they've done this kind of thing a few times they might think themselves above any screwing with from the natives.
04/16/11 @ 02:09:02 pm
That pic with ET isn't a computer, it's a mockup of the maneuvering panels (Steam, Reactor, and Electrical) from a nuclear submarine. Not a single (digital) computerized component in it.
12/03/11 @ 02:40:50 pm
Okay I still think that there is atleast SOME truth to the story. Scientifically its not incorrect. Jeff's character is shown to have decoded the alien signal(a signal is 1/0 high/low whatever). So he can use it to quickly create a virus. The virus need not be compatible with the operating system but if we can trigger the right impulses in the hardware you can change the way a program works hence he can also make the mothership switch off the force-fields. What he used for communication is still unclear.
802.goldblum? anyone?
03/20/12 @ 03:30:57 pm
"Seriously, every movie should end with Jeff Goldblum"
+10000 !!!!
03/24/12 @ 07:07:16 pm
The only plausible answer I can think of how the laptop was wirelessly linked with the mother-ship computer was by using the IRDA Infrared data port of the '96 Apple Powerbook 5300 which Dave used, which does required close proximity to devices due to the short range of the technology :)
01/12/13 @ 10:12:42 pm
The aliens had to have figured out our binary system before arriving. The fact that they were using our satellites, computers in space, to coordinate their attack means they were sending, and receiving, code in binary at some point. This means that the transmitter they had could block the signal from the satellites and replace it with the signal from Dave's laptop. This system is often used with cell phone jammers which flood a cell phone with a signal, rendering incapable of receiving a 3G signal from a cell phone tower.