The planet earth and every single atom of organic and inorganic life on it, was a free gift to humanity. In fact pretty much a free gift to all sentient beings. The biggest free lunch we could conceive of before we conceived of blasting off into the wider Universe where the only thing that will stop our rapacious appetite for converting everything into money will be a stronger being.
I do wonder, if people were given the chance to vote on it, whether they would invent money again. This need to convert the planet and its resources into things people buy, to divide up areas of land into private property which can be bought and sold, which becomes one personal fortune, seems little more than birds displaying their mating potential.
The alternative? Isn’t bartering, because the alternative only depends on the aims of individuals and the species. If the aim were knowledge we wouldn’t be making NASA scientists compete with each other for funding of projects, we would have a community of a million or so people working together in a micro society, making everything for themsleves, because they would know you only need energy to get things done.
I wish the money world had left space for such communities to arise but it hasn’t. A loss to us and knowledge.