I think the problem only arises once you move beyond animals and into computer science which is not within the scope of this article Which author is right about how to design algorithms is irrelevant the article is about collective behavior in biological animals and how that arises and evolves How and why animals arrive at a particular state is often very very different from human design or even from what s optimal Your references might be very relevant to the articles Swarm intelligence or Collective behavior but this article has a narrower scope restricted to non human animals in nature