It's a shame that today's "technologists" are eager to ignore the political axis of technology if it means they get to talk about ESP or Von Neumann machines. It's like I'm watching the field progress in reverse, transitioning from a crowd of self-righteous and skeptical consumers to a mystic and eschatological identity that eschews understanding.
Your comment reads to me like a criticism of lesswrong, but the linked article is entirely about the political axis of a potential technology. Am I misunderstanding your comment?
Look at the Patriot Act, or any other military censor you choose. Same concept - we need to peek into people's private communications to determine if they're a terrorist! We need to scan their photo gallery to prevent them from abusing children! All are means to the same ends, the state wants to enforce absolute loyalty by sucking out any room for protest. Throughout history you can very easily ascertain that authoritarianism isn't restrained by a lack of mind control, for every life Oskar Schindler saved there's another 1,000 bodies buried in Babi Yar. The fact that ESP might have prevented those 1,000 lives from being saved somewhat glosses over the millions that were ostensibly genocided without using psychic domination.