May be rooted in the natural world, eg. locusts, but there was a Michael Crichton (author of Jurassic Park) book titled Swarm, about a nano-drone apocalypse (fictional novel treatment of something like Bill Joy's gray goo). I believe the accepted understanding is that a swarm operates with emergent behavior above and beyond that of its mostly ignorant constituent individual organisms, be they ants/bees/locusts/people or HFT algos.

Of course it’s rooted in the natural world. Even technical language is analogy and metaphor to natural phenomenon.

Any reputable scientist will tell you just that.

Using swarm in the context science fiction bugs is indirection.

It could be conceptualized otherwise but in writing at large it’s almost always used as an analogy to animal behavior (like a swarm of $natural_being).

I believe what you believe the accepted understanding is is just your opinion. It’s not my understanding of it at all.

If my understanding, or belief, is only just an internet opinion, so unacceptable as to provoke this reply, would you mind sharing what yours is as a counterpoint?