What if bitcoin was not invented

If Bitcoin wasn't invented it wouldn't make a big difference right now. I don't think Bitcoin is currently actively affecting a lot of lives. Sure, there are some exceptions but I think a majority of people see Bitcoin as a curiosity. In any case, paying with Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency doesn't seem that appealing to me when it's so volatile, and I think that it's going to take a while before any of the currencies are stable enough to be a payment method. Being a viable payment method would deliver on their promise to cut out the middleman, but at the moment cryptocurrencies mostly seem interesting to speculate on.

An incredible amount of energy might not be wasted

The most impactful place I see Bitcoin being used is in ransomware. But if Bitcoin didn't exist, I'm sure they would use some other hard-to-trace means of ransom.