Need? We don't need lots of things, including computers. We did well without them for hundreds of thousands of years.

We want to understand. Quantum physics, mathematics, how stuff works. Ants don't.

That want is not a given, not all of us have that drive. In fact, very few of us have it. So far though, it seems multiple disconnected civilizations learned to keep that trait going instead of suppressing it and focusing only on practical ant-like activities.