Ants don't find the shortest distance on the first time out. They have to work all paths until discovering the shortest one but then they stick to it. Especially if one of us crushes them.
I also wonder, if swarms can find greater amounts of food and safety, if evolution would make individuals more sensitive and less independent of thought as time goes by? Might nature tend to create swarms when such times are more necessary? Does this have anything to do with humans reaching eight billion of us? Possibly the challenge is merely to become less independent and more of a collective (swarm) in a warming sphere?