I’d agree that most humans are not pathological power seekers; however I believe that’s exactly why we end up with successful pathological power seekers.
Like the world is learning with nukes, you cannot rely on the powerful for mercy. You can only rely on the powerful to grasp for more power and the only way to stop them is to yourself be as strong as possible.
If a utopia ever exists, it will only be because of a stalemate arms race (see: no nuclear powers have had an open war). Peaceful utopia is otherwise too easily disrupted by a single asshole with a big stick.
I remember in the 2010s reading about them and also reading that there are de facto hierarchies within Valve for given projects, even if they aren’t explicitly laid out.
This exists; they are called sprint races. Sprint races are generally a stepping stone to the bigger leagues because it doesn't require the same type of manpower and coordination to be competitive. A lot of spec series (like the MX-5 series that runs with IMSA sometimes) tend to be this way to lower the barrier of entry.
Splitwise might work for you. I've used it for parties that multiple people contribute to. Everyone just adds what they've spent and at the end you click a button to "settle up".