Great read thanks and absolutely agree that not everything must be artificially lit.
But I personally think that lighting is always controlled, at least if you do your job as a dp.
You say yourself that you shoot in a certain time frame so you are already controlling the natural light source with this simple choice.
And then with the placement of your subject, use of a reflector or diffusion, custom color balance etc you are controlling the light as much as you possibly can.
I think this makes the difference between bad/decent and great photography.
So I agree with your article about using the surroundings environment and lighting conditions but that does not mean you should just shoot as is, a little control with a reflector or a smart character placement will make a big difference imo