Swarms in nature are composed of nodes (organisms) that each have a neural network, and which have light and ephemeral connectivity (sensory input) to adjacent

Swarms in nature are composed of nodes (organisms) that each have a neural network, and which have light and ephemeral connectivity (sensory input) to adjacent nodes. I guess if you wanted to be pedantic, there is no swarm, or in other words the swarm is just a shorthand way of describing the collective decisions of all the nodes. Where exactly does the emergent behavior come from if the nodes are dumb, e.g. non-autonomous?