I realize that Mastodon is specifically intended not to have any sort of algorithm, and I understand and appreciate that, but it’s not what I want, personally. I want to have the posts in my feed sorted by the ones with the most “engagement” as those are likely the most interesting ones.
You can. Putting, say, #Funny in your antenna will show you everything with the keyword “#Funny”. This is more powerful than just hashtag following, as you can even follow specific words.
Alas, as you mentioned, antenna content doesn’t show up in the home feed yet. I believe there is an open issue to change that.