I got nerd-sniped wrt the genetic algorithm.

Technically birdshot from a shotgun is also randomly distributed (passing through a cone). This actually improves the chance of hitting the clay pigeon, because the birdshot spreads out and each individual ball has a chance to hit.

Genetic algo is similar. it's an optimizer that - in order to avoid local optima - will 'shotgun' an area around its current best guess.