> Compression is functionally equivalent to prediction when the data distribution is exactly representative of all future problems.

At some level, nothing is representative of all future "problems".

I think as far as corner cases is concerned, people can optimize for what they think matters. Larger models, higher sensitivities, better filtering.

Beyond this, I don't know what you're peeved by. There's no manifesto, there's no claiming that any particular method to prediction is perfect yet.