I agree with you. Top quality posts should get the most exposure, the most upvotes, the most comments, and ultimately the most money. Unfortunately, things are not working that way right now. If you don't use the bots, your content is unlikely to be seen.
It is a self perpetuating problem. People use the bots which puts pressure on other people to use bots which puts pressure on almost everyone who is not a whale or friend of a whale to use bots. We will have to see where all this ends up.