I really think if there was one thing we got right - that’s money as a civilization. What we need to do is fix the loop holes. That includes taxes, corporation as persons, the whole 2011 movement of Occupy Wall Street.
Because you want to make something useful and helpful for the world? Personal satisfaction? Passion? Necessity?
Granted, those are no arguments to work for free in a world where operating a business and keeping yourself fed cost money, but if somehow those weren't concerns, I can assure you people would still have plenty of motivation to innovate still.
There's a lot to be said for the social technology of markets and the extrinsic motivations of money. But from FOSS to mutual aid to gift economies [0], currency-denominated markets should only be one tool in our political-economy toolbox.
I contribute to open source, as many others here do. Lots and lots of people contribute to society and the common good in other ways without the expectation of capitalistic reward.