It's True, I Tell You

I was a bit confused on first reading Poul Anderson's "I Tell You, It's True" (Conflict, New York, 1989) but it makes sense.

A US diplomat diplomatically addresses a Thai revolutionary. After the diplomat has activated a concealed device, the revolutionary heeds what is being said to him. Is some beneficial influence at work? No. Two Americans have built a machine that affects brains, making people believe whatever they are told. (A drug did this to Dominic Flandry in "Honorable Enemies" and was used to fool a telepath.)

In alternating passages, we read accounts of the machine being used and discussions about whether it should be used. Then the accounts of its use become incompatible. It is being used by the US government, then by criminals, then by a hostile foreign government. Then we realize that the accounts of its use were scenarios in the discussion about whether it should be used. Then the inventors use the device to prevent it from being used.

Finally, the Premier of the Chinese People's Republic, addressing the world through three synchronous relay satellites, with simultaneous translation into many languages, assures everyone that he is not using any electronic brainwashing...

The story implies that, when a technology has become possible, then it will be developed and used. Does it also imply that, if this is to happen, then the technology, in this case "neuroinduction" (p. 149), might as well be used by Us now rather than by Them later? I am not sure whether that second implication is present.