Technocrat surgeons will need a supply of healthy, living bodies for those whose head and brain are intact but bodies are unusable. China has few ethical or legal restrictions on anything to do with science and technology.
Read carefully: Obama's 2012 "Map the Human Brain" initiative is producing control freaks who want to achieve read/write access to the human brain. This includes reading, deleting, creating and altering memories. It would be the ultimate mind control mechanism ever created. Of course, it is over-hyped and likely impossible, but the fact that they believe they can do it is concerning enough.
Stephen Hawking's brain synapses may be superior to most, at least in terms of IQ, but something it basically mis-wired in his logic circuit. AI and/or robots are not human life, nor will it ever be.
In the past, men have worshiped rocks, wooden and carved images, the sun, the moon, animals and every conceivable thing, so why not worship an AI bot? Wired Magazine wrote "God is a bot, and Anthony Levandowski is his messenger." To Christians, this is reminiscent of Revelation 13:15.
This GMO operation (using CRISPR technology) is permanently changing the germline of these ants and with the specific purpose of changing their social behavior. Technocrats do not consider ethics or unfavorable outcomes that will surely occur.
The Technocrat and Transhuman dreams are merging on this fantasy, that humans can be fundamentally transformed without any undesirable side-effects. Such human enhancement was originally put into play by DARPA in 2001.
There is still a science fiction aspect to this technology because all claims are not yet proven, but it could be a breakthrough discovery. There are also Transhuman implications as well, in finding ways to overcome aging and even death.
Should everyone breath easier knowing that Nasa has a 'Planetary Protection Officer' on duty? Of course, you realize that its your tax money that pays his salary, and those of all the other Nasa Technocrats.
The "we're living in a computer simulation" myth is running amok with Technocrat billionaires who are caught up in their own fantasy world. As this article states, "it’s hard to know whether we should laugh or scream in horror." However, note that these are the same people bringing who plan to escape death and want to colonize Mars. They are also the same people who are driving Smart Cities, the New Urban Agenda and 20330 Agenda.
Technocrats hate to be told "no", so billionaire Technocrat Peter Thiel is funding a floating city in international waters, effectively removing all legal, moral and ethical restraints on scientific research. Thiel is a Transhuman and also wants to colonize Mars.