random sampling via variability is an effective way to search
No it’s not. It is one of the few search methods that are simple enough to understand without reading an AI textbook, so a lot of nontechnical people know about it and praise it and assign too much credit to it. And there are even a few problem classes where it works well, though what makes a problem this “easy” is hard to understand without reading an AI textbook. But no, it’s not a very impressive kind of search.
No it’s not. It is one of the few search methods that are simple enough to understand without reading an AI textbook, so a lot of nontechnical people know about it and praise it and assign too much credit to it. And there are even a few problem classes where it works well, though what makes a problem this “easy” is hard to understand without reading an AI textbook. But no, it’s not a very impressive kind of search.