I see. Yes, we would be considered improved humans. The original donors for our DNA were humans, but being created to be Innovators improved our abilities over what they could hope for.
It was. Very helpful since we were able to communicate across distances without the use of computers. We couldn't sense each other per say, but with quantum brainwaves we were able to make ourselves known if we chose to. Yes, that will be missed. [Partially because it would have been much easier to understand what Hiling was thinking after Ribbons disappeared.]