> im sure after a 100 samplings, the academics would solve the problem faster

Repharase thinking:

Some problems are better for academics, other problems require other background information.

The point of the GP isn’t that they are all academics. It’s that one solution group is homogeneous and the other is not.

The claim is: the breadth of a heterogeneous groups is more likely to encompass a good idea than the depth of an academic group.

Also, I have to say that academics have (imo) little experience working together cooperatively, so even on academic problems you’d be better off with some non-academic people in there to act as buffers.