The Intercept got hold of an Army video that warns of the complexities of maintaining military control in the cities of the future . The megacities of the future (population >10M), the video asserts, will be more densely populated and socially and politically complex than anything we know today. People will be stacked up—people living in high-rise apartments, at street level, and below the streets—with distinct political and social systems at each level.

The Intercept seems to make fun of the video, but I don’t see much to laugh about. Sure, the use of third-world imagery of overpopulation and political strife used by the producers (which remain anonymous) is something we’ve seen before. But the reason those images are relevant is because they depict present-day cities that are already well on their way to the megacity dynamic described in the video.