Google removes targeting knobs because despite what marketers think, humans consistently underperform algorithms when it comes to targeting. Typically, the people tweaking the knobs have reverse incentives because they don't want their jobs to be automated so they love these knobs. But they are just constraints on the bidding systems that end up delivering poorer performance of the campaigns.

YMMV but for the vast majority of campaigns, the algorithm does know better.

Disclaimer: I've built bidding systems for multiple ad companies, so I'm surely biased towards "the algorithm knows better".