Just as a thought experiment for myself, if I didn't hold any crypto now, if Hive didn't exist - my life would be easier.

This does exactly describe it. Spot on.
I am not relying on Hive in my life. I do see it as a long term investment. The same is valid for other crypto in general in my case. Still I do feel the urge to decrease my fiat investment as low as possible. We do live today and not tomorrow. And if the Covid pandemic did learn my anything, than it is that we have to enjoy every moment of life. Time with family and friends and so on. If crypto did exist? Well there are more people who don't know ZIP about crypto than people who do know. These people still do strungle day to day. Maybe for some crypto does replace a second job. While it is still time consuming, it can be arranged better.

But Hive and other crypto does give the regular folks a chance to earn something extra. Without crypto in general only the influencer could make a living out of online activities. Or maybe, just maybe someone would come on the idea to build a fiat version of Facebook, Twitter or anything else.

Maybe other without crypto would become thieves. Who knows.

Well a tough question to answer. So I will stop here and think about it.

Cheers, Peter