Judging from the jacket and the OB discussion, the word "robot" is again uncritically used as a substitute for the word "host" (Dawkins was the original offender). Since the author apparently really, really, really wanted to use a catchy analogy, he likely intentionally avoided the obvious one of symbiosis, since neither genes, nor humans can live without each other and provide mutual benefits... assuming one is prepared to assign volition to genes.

As for the Rise of the (Moist) Machines, this idea is hardly new.