There is truth in this, but it isn't as true as some people seem to think. it's true that trial and error is a real part of working in ml, but it isn't just luck whether something works or not. We do know why some models work better than others for many tasks, there are some cases in which some mannual hyperparameter tuning is good, there was a lot of progress in the last 50 years, and so on.

The comic itself is fine as a joke, but I really don't like how parents often don't take responsibility for their actions. Does the mother in this comic really had no reason to create another person, without their consent, knowing they will have to go through the hardships of life? sure, many times kids are overreacting but still, at least have the decency to respond truthfully and not change the subject.