In most points I agree with you. Money is no fiction. And IMO it's basement is trust. If I'm sure that I can buy stuff myself with rarely sea shells, then I will accept them as money for my services. Also IMO: in most cases there ain't no such thing as free lunch. This is what I learned in nearly 40 years as well.
What I like about the post of @kevinwong is, that he is starting with a bold statement: "There is such a thing called free lunch". Then he tried to argue for that. Nobody has to agree with that. Steemit is the free market version of social media. So, if there are no "buyers" for his arguments, then the product should be improved to make profit (if profit is the aim of the writing). As a capitalist I'm admiring the market, because he does not lie when he works proper. @kevinwong received 2.4 k SBD for it. This is really neat. Looks like a good product for me - despite I'm not agree to his last statement: "The fact is, there isn't such a thing called money. Only human values."
Yeah, sure. "Human values". The guy just made 2,432 SBD out of "human values". I call this a successful article.
Maybe many voted not for the specific outcome of his thinking, but because he is a true contrarian, that don't take something like #TANSTAAFL granted to be true, only because many people say so. That's why I voted for his post. Because he is a free mind that thinks for himself. No matter what the outcome is.