> Perhaps surprisingly, given how fundamental optimization is to so many fields, there isn't consensus on what's best. And as I previously hinted above, the answer may change with the hardware landscape.

Not entirely to your point, but related, my understanding is that is no best at everything: methods that work well in one field won't necessarily work in others. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_free_lunch_in_search_and_op...