Comment by buildbot

A great science fiction series with a very similar concept is the Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi[1]. The Sobornost create billions of specialized "gogols" by selectively editing minds and using them to perform any kind of task, such as rendering a virtual environment via painting or as the tracking engine of a missile.

[1] Who in an example of just how small the world is, is a cofounder of ycombinator backed startup - https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/1560