Biotechnology is rapidly reshaping warfare, the economy, and human evolution. The US-China rivalry fuels these advances, with China pursuing military-civil fusion and the US striving to maintain dominance. Gene-editing tools like CRISPR pose unprecedented ethical and security risks that range from “super-soldiers” to novel biological weapons. Scientists and policymakers face a “humanness-survival dilemma” that increasingly compels them to weigh human nature against existential threats. Powerful states, private companies, and gaps in global governance make control difficult. A biotechnology accelerates, it challenges morality, security, and the very essence of what it means to be human. How should we confront these challenges?