To answer your initial question: value isn't made from "nothing". Steem is free to use and join, but as so often in real life, your price is your time and effort. This is what Steem converts into money.
So does Youtube and Google ads, but Steem is much more direct and decentralized.
But I have concerns regarding bots. They are just...too much.
Yes, it was a rhetorical question. It's silly, but people actually think this way.
Some of the roboticization is... distasteful. But it is also an inevitable progression/ development of application of the blockchain. Humanity had better get used to bots of all sorts as they will soon be more numerous than human beings!
I know, I just felt I had to answer that. :)
About bots, well, yeah, maybe you're right. I just need genuine human interaction, instead of the mercy of a bunch of automatons.