@freakazoid I feel like that's overly optimistic, honestly. It's not entirely *wrong* - removing money does remove an avenue of power accumulation. But... it is not the only one, and unless you also get rid of the underlying power-seeking culture, people will find another way to accumulate and misuse power, most likely reinventing money, or religion, or something like it.
Getting rid of money can definitely *help*, in that it removes a pillar of power, and so weakens the overall system of hierarchy, and makes it easier to knock it over. But you do still need to fight the concept of 'deserved' hierarchy itself to actually get there!
(You can see this happening at a small scale with the many local initiatives that try to exist 'without money', but then do not recognize or address power relations otherwise, and ultimately end up succumbing to some power struggle from out of left field)
@freakazoid Actually, a better example: the common implementation of "meritocracy" in FOSS is pretty much exactly what you describe, and it basically always results in a toxic environment. Likewise, meritocracy has a kernel of truth to it, but it can only work as part of a bigger change.
