>>rightb+(OP)
Well, most sci-fi still fits the bill. Vinge is a bit interesting in that he plays around with the idea with Tines where an “individual” (in human sense) is a pack of 5 of them[0] or with civilizations that “transcend” and then no one has any idea of what are about anymore, and how a bunch of civilizations evolved from humans which explains how they all just happen to operate on equivalent human meatbag scale.
[0] Genuinely not unlike how a congregation of gelled-together humans is an entity that can achieve much more than an individual human.