Might not be an apples to apples comparison, but Costco vs Amazon is the example I tend to use for curation vs SEO. The reason it might not be the best comparison is that Costco tends to be for bulk items while Amazon tends to be for one off purchases, but anecdotally I know of many who consider Costco’s experience to be the better of the two.
I guess my argument is more does Costco have humans merchandise? I feel like the fact that they just put skids of overstock out into the isles randomly is more passive than the fancy facing work that most retailers do. Likewise, does Costco carry SKUs because they feel right, or because of some kind of clinical calculation they did about most popular CPG?
Walmart (active merchandising) > Amazon (passive SEO)
Mutual funds (active picking) > ETFs (passive baskets)
It seems like a one directional shift. Every time I see human curation, it just ends up being long term worse.