> The key is that step 1 isn't random: it's guided by past experience, and intuition That's copium my dude. There is no doubt great insightful work in ML but f

> The key is that step 1 isn't random: it's guided by past experience, and intuition That's copium my dude. There is no doubt great insightful work in ML but for the vast majority of publications OP's questions are valid. Most people use ML like a hammer and are instead trying to turn their problems into nails.