I agree to a point. It depends upon public consciousness/awareness/education/information. In a society where people are educated enough to know when and why rates should be raised/lowered or the money supply should be increased/tightened there can be advantages to currencies which are flexible. The trouble with the current era is virtually no one knows enough to comprehend the implications of current monetary policy which makes it easy for scales to be tipped in favor of certain demographics. Under these circumstances algorithmic based supply can be far superior. The reason for their better performance is a substitute for the general public having a good working education and knowledge of topics like economics/business/finance.
The only advantage to a money you can print on demand is that the printer can enrich politically connected parties with the new money. There is absolutely no problem keeping a money supply fixed, and increases lead to inflation. In the era of mercantilism, as gold flowed from the New World back to Western Europe, they experience long periods of inflation where before there was none. During the classical gold standard in the early-mid 19th Century, the United States experienced a prolonged
deflation, with consumer goods prices falling modestly for decades. This is hugely beneficial to standards of living. A central bank would have printed its way out of the deflation, negating the benefits to the middle class.
Interest rates are determined on the market when demand for debt meets the supply of savings to lend. The acts of market participants set those rates. As more people save, interest rates go down. As more people demand to borrow, interest rates go up. Artificial interference in this process distorts the market and in fiat currency systems leads to the boom-and-bust business cycle.
I would love to see a more economically-literate general public

But you don't need a PhD to know that when everything in life gets a little more expensive every year, you're losing money if you save, so you should spend. This leads to more consumerism and less savings and investment, which are the only sure way to raise standards of living in the long term.