They want to change the curve to make it less economically viable to vote on yourself. That's why it slopes up first. That first vote has almost no impact.
If a vote on yourself is less economically viable than using that same vote to vote for a piece of content you think will do well and you earn more with curation, they think this will change voting behavior for the better.
But like I said, the feeling of empowering yourself becomes less. Most people, myself included, are mediocre content creators. But we are builders non the less and steempower is our building tool. Unless you already have a lot it's going to be more difficult to use your SP to empower your own blog/account.