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I think that's a very interesting way of viewing history.
My way of thinking is that money you don't need at this moment can be sunk into various assets for future use. And your choice is to invest in frozen assets or productive assets. Frozen assets are like gold or real estate. They rise and fall without contributing to food, shelter, etc. Then, you have assets that fund the start ups or ongoing running of businesses that provide food, shelter, etc. During times of inflation, monies leave productive assets and pour into frozen assets so that investors who fear their saving won't keep up with inflation, will keep pace. And then, as inflation subsides those funds move back into productive assets. Because if, during low inflation, your real estate is profiting at 2% a year but you can get 9% in stocks, you should have stocks. In the short term inflation can hurt profits and lower company stocks, but in the long run those companies won't be selling at a discount to the new value of money. They'll also rise to the new value. So, in the long run, companies do protect you from inflation as well. I'm not sure what world exists where we won't need companies that make food, shelter, transportation or loan money.
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