I also have no filters. But I don't use Gmail tabbed inbox, either. Do people know you can disable this? I ask because "forfeiting agency to their algorithm" doesn't make sense to me. It sounds like the author isn't familiar with the product.
I do use filters now, but haven't always because I was always looking for a "move to label" option in the "Create Filter" dialog. Instead, Gmail calls that "Archive," which I assumed sent it to the Negative Zone of some special compressed archive. I'm an idiot, for years I just assumed Google didn't build a move feature into it's filters.
[That said, I do find Gmail (and other Google UIs) to be full of little points of frustration like this. Maybe others have had better luck with it, but Tabbed Inbox almost feels like it's designed to make me ineffective.]