But people aren’t equal in their abilities and contributions (i don’t know… does that even matter?) would people still create to the same extent if there was no artificial incentive like money?

This statement is the hurdle we struggle to overcome because we measure worth by assigning an artificial monetary value, and it's difficult to imagine an alternative.

Essential workers' wages would have increased exponentially during the pandemic if supply and demand determined valuable contributions. Profit, not worth, decides importance, which doesn't serve society's needs.

We're experiencing overproduction to maintain economic growth, and there are countless bullshit jobs, but people need to feel connected to something. Perhaps we wouldn't work as many hours, but we enjoy producing and building stuff. It gives us a sense of identity and meaning.

Forced labor creates unproductive workplace environments because everyone must work to survive. Every office has coworkers who do nothing but delay progress. Maybe raising a family is their best contribution, but our system doesn't monetary or socially value domestic work.

Surely, we could do better than this!