I think the huge marketing campaign for a technology that most people do not understand is to hide the fact that it's for mass surveillance (let's call it "analytics") and end-user manipulation (we'll say "marketing").
I don't believe that governments promote massive multi-billion dollar infrastructure-upending projects on optimism and "luck". Your 3-part explanation notably leaves out any effect that 5G might have on mass surveillance, i.e., the annihilation of privacy and private communications. But maybe that's simply implied when we say "IoT".
Certain psychedelics can and do have a profoundly life-changing effect on people, which can be a positive, affirming experience in an appropriate/safe context. It is essentially impossible to describe their effects in any meaningful way, but the most succinct explanation might be something like "spiritual awakening", which is probably unfathomable. Many of the ancient world religions describe some sort of mysterious plant or concoction that is integral to ritual/rite/worship, but over time these religions or their practices have gone extinct, underground, or been co-opted or replaced. It is no longer a fringe opinion that many of our ancestors were engaged in some form of "mind expansion" based on entheogenic substances/mixtures discovered in nature; to this day there are shamans who practice millenia-old divination with the assistance of medicinal plants (they have a worldview too, which is probably quite different from yours). Terrence McKenna has hypothesized that the very emergence of language (as a precursor to civilization) was a result of novel neural stimulation exacted by these substances; it is, at least, without question that the class of drugs we call "psychedelics" make people think and feel in ways they've never before imagined. We have this notion of "bad drugs" vs. "good drugs". And we have a whole pharmacopeia of government-approved drugs to alter our emotional state (anti-depressant, anti-anxiety, anti-psychotic), so we've decided it's ok to administer drugs to alter emotions. We are now, finally, entering an era of renewed exploration in the previously-demonized "psychedelic drugs" in therapeutic contexts. Why? Because these substances can elicit profound changes in the mental state of their users. They are extremely powerful medicines that facilitate unique mental processes at low doses. Why do we find these substances throughout nature? By pure coincidence? Maybe. Or maybe our own evolution is somehow tied to them (all evolution is tied together, right?). At the very least, they are incredibly interesting from any perspective (scientific, spiritual, historical, social, legal). Psychedelics are perhaps the most interesting substances on the planet.
Surveilled by who: everyone. Have you considered how many corporations "work with the government"? The DMV itself sells your data. Everyone is spying, hacking, and selling your data. They're watching, identifying, tabulating, and tracking. You are not free to move around without your government knowing about it.
What rights do we have? None. 9/11. Terror. How many buildings fell that day?
Panopticon: We've been talking about the NSA, evidence in hand, since 2013, after Clapper lied, under oath, on public television.
Epstein 'suicide': the people who work behind the scenes are beholden to nobody except on paper. "Intelligence" is a free pass to do anything you want.
Overdue for legislation around citizen rights: Of course, in a "free world". Do you expect anything to change? What happens when our cities are covered in drones? One for each person maybe. The CIA had dragonfly drones in the 1970s. In the last five years, we have erected surveillance cameras and tracking sensors absolutely everywhere, in plain sight, and most people somehow simply aren't aware. Others ignore or make excuses. We call politicians "public servants" but government doesn't work "for the people". Government works for government, and it get bigger every day, its budget gets bigger every day, and its power increases because its eyes see farther. Soon there will be no private space left, and people will accept it. It will be suspicious to desire privacy. We still hear a chorus of out-of-touch masses bellowing the programmed refrain "Well, I have nothing to hide". We are reminded that "If you see something, say something". Report anything that does not conform to your idea of normalcy. Get a doorbell cam and connect it with the police. Trust your government. We are entering the end of the road.
The subtitle sums up the smugness of the article pretty well:
"What Happens When Mental Illness Becomes Coordinated".
Later in the article:
"For example, people who believe they are being gangstalked point to the many verified extensive surveillance forces that institutions use on the general public.
These can range from the collecting and selling of internet data to the NSA’s overzealousness that was exposed by Edward Snowden.
Conspiracy theory believers are not wrong to have concerns about these issues.
They cross the line, however, when they think their thoughts are being read or that the car they saw with the tinted windows was sent specifically to monitor them".
So the author thinks that anyone who is paranoid of the government is a "conspiracy theorist", more or less. The author obviously knows that mind-reading is a myth, because if mind-reading were possible, the author would have already known about it. Anybody practicing mind-reading would have published their protocols, and because the author has not heard about such protocols, they do not exist. Further, if you believe that a car is following you, you are apparently a conspiracy theorist, because cars do not follow people.
Here's another bit from the article:
"For instance, “Psy-Ops” refers to a type of surveillance operation that supposedly remotely transfers information to the brains of targeted individuals to affect their emotions and logic — in other words, mind-control".
In conclusion, this is a bunch of drivel and just another useless hit piece on people who distrust their government, who the author claims are mentally-ill conspiracy theorists.
As with most any subject of study, there is a wide range of personalities involved.
Do you believe that "conspiracies" do not exist? That's an untenable position to take. Yet you say that all "conspiracists" fall under the categories of "derivative, repetitive, delusional, stupid".
You may think Flat Earth is stupid. You may be right. Would a person ever say something she doesn't believe in?
You can ridicule Flat Earth and Anti-vax and any other ideas you find unscientific or in other ways displeasing, but grouping together as laughable dimwits the entire spectrum of individuals who seek to dissect hidden agenda and false narrative is fallacious.
If you haven't happened across it, I encourage you to take a look at "stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI)". You can find academic papers and official government statements on it, if you were at all inclined.
I've found this to be the case as well. There's an enormous amount of surveillance technology that over the last ~3 years has sprung up on buildings, streetlights, traffic lights, and highway poles. I try to talk to people about these things, but they've often never seen them. When pressed, they say "it's probably for traffic". When pointed out, they shrug. They might say, chuckling, "they're watching you" as if it's silly and meaningless to consider. Finally, there's "so what are you gonna do about it?"
I'd start at compulsory water fluoridation. Here's a pretty decent synopsis (though now dated): https://web.archive.org/web/20140313192649/http://archive.le... . Bonus: Edward Bernays makes a special guest appearance in this tragedy.