I understand why you write this, but in fact I think the opposite is true: If the author had written "torture", many who believe in the value of "EITs" would simply have dismissed the article as more anti-EIT screeching, etc.

In fact, the author is, IMHO, attempting to make reasoned points about what EITs are intended to do and what they actually do. In other words, can we demonstrate scientifically that they work?

If the answer is yes, then we revert quickly to the moral and ethical question, illuminated in some ways by the related question of the degree of harm caused by EITs.

But if the answer is no, if we can demonstrate scientifically that EITs are garbage, then perhaps we can abandon them.

(The suggestion in the article is that the answer seems likely to be no because of the known impacts of sleep deprivation and stress on memory recall.)