Considering that modern humans have been around for roughly 200-300’000 years but the oldest known form of money / standardized currency dates back only 3000-2500 bce, what would today look like in a alternate reality where the concept of money was never conceived? Like I guess some form of “the market” has always been around, but still… what if?
It was probably bartering before and if money was never made it would still be the same to this day. Trading lowkey fucken sucks without some form of backed currency. But I’d be totally down to show up at someone’s house and sing some cover songs and originals if they would come over and fix my pipes.
You’re not gonna believe this… there’s totally a system to enable exactly that, called timebanks. It’s a means of exchanging labor wherein everyone’s time is valued equally. https://www.timebanks.org/timebank-map-and-directory
Disclosure: I’m a founding board member and the treasurer for my regional timebank. I’m all in on the timebank kool-aid.