Why worry about empathy and thoughtcrime when it can simply be gene-edited out? Would you want everyone to be autistic for example? Sociopaths keep us around because they're not creative. Maybe the elites could keep the empathy for their own. The wealthy are going to self-perpetuate with life extensions everyone else simply can't afford to keep up with. Remember how expensive Major Kusanagi's parts were in Ghost in the Shell?
This is as good a reason as any to make as much money as you can now to give your genotype a shot. The bloodlines of the world are already their own ethnic clans. No one deserves to be born in shit-encrusted India. A singularity-level event is way more likely than antinatalism being embraced by everyone if you're concerned with mitigating suffering.
The nobles of yore saw themselves as having more in common with their fellow nobles of other lands than the peasants they lorded over.
Who would want to live forever as a slave? It is far better to die with an ounce of freedom than to be on your knees without end. Every man may have his price, but you can't put a price on freedom. Can these newfound boons add to the free will that we don't have? Control is only achieved at the barrel of a gun. The Federation knocks on your door and goes join or die. It is mistake to think increased intelligence whether AI or otherwise can only mean benevolence.
The question is whether you could afford not to be changed when that's the only option that keeps you economically viable. Being fed and housed won't mean much if you're stuck on a prison planet in a vat connected to the internet because you're indebted/every other option is too expensive.
I think most everyone agrees it's a good idea to not forcibly attempt to evolve the uncontacted peoples of this planet.
>That would also require those living beyond scarcity to feel near zero empathy for those living in relative squalor. The unempathetic mind that humans have today might be a result of factors that wouldn't impact 100% of the people living beyond scarcitc, so they may wish to bring them into "modern" times and improve their living condition. Of course that might mean bringing them under a surveillance state, as seen in popular novels.
So we're going to have secret wars between factions of the cyborg elite. They're the only ones who can afford to evolve as they see fit anyways.