Wouldn’t simulating a hive mind, by definition, require the simulation of a mind as its basic, repeatable unit?
I believe the thing which enables the human “hive mind” is the fact that our ideas are themselves creatures competing for resources in an evolutionary process. Their transfer medium was originally spoken language, but the evolutionary process (and along with it greater and greater complexity of human society) accelerates along with new better forms of communication and information storage and retrieval.
An excellent introduction to the concept of ideas themselves being creatures, is Dan Dennett’s Dangerous Memes on TED Talks. That concept then leads to another interesting thought that @gmirey hinted at on another thread, which is the underlying “DNA” for these “creatures” might turn out to be something similar to the concepts that Calvin describes in The Cerebral Code.