And you think if everyone knows who the whales are, and if those whales also use their real life identity, pictures, video, etc, that these human beings cannot be extorted by others, or coerced into delegating their SP to others, or into upvoting others?

True, the risks you take. SP and follow a trail and have your password with a lawyer after you power up who know the protocol for giving the key out. Or a similar thing that would simply serve as a silent alarm to be triggered by a word or phrase, thee's plenty of imagination that doesn't require the centralization of power and lack of accountability for voting. That scenario is the perfect method for devaluing steem, leave the actors without recourse to their actions because there is the fear that they might be kidnapped or coerced, which manifests because they shared personal information to the public, on a public place, akin to driving a nice car.