Please do not disrespect the cubicles! For people working in open spaces, they are a vision of heaven.

But of course, remote work allows you to choose your own room / cubicle / beach / whatever you like most.

You've put it really well here. I lived in the south bay for a period in my 20s, but man, in no way was living in San Jose and working in a cubicle the social lifestyle that I dreamed of.

Most people are social. The vast majority of partners come from school or work.

Work is not just work, it's probably also 15-20% of one's life, or more (8+ hours each day for 40+ years).

The office you describe sounds like a crap office. Comparing a crap office to remote (where it's largely as good or as bad as your decide) isn't really fair. I've previously always worked in lovely offices, with lots of light and quiet spaces, at places where adhoc working from home was common and acceptable (even if we were still office first). Compared to that remote working sucks for me, particularly for the reasons the OP shared.

I've worked at a half dozen companies and I've never worked in an office that wasn't inferior to my home office. Even when I was poor and my home office was my bedroom shared with my wife, that sure beat the interruption farms of big tech office buildings. Nowadays I have a private room where I can keep it quieter than a library or blast music on speakers that beat any headphones and I've got a nicer monitor setup and chair than any company would've given me too. Of course I like commuting to a shared office space for certain kinds of meetings, but most interactions are fine over chat or video call. Needing to be in person is by far the exceptional day, not the rule. I've been cheering the slow normalization of remote work over the past decade and the way the pandemic tipped it over the edge has been a big silver lining to me.

> Comparing a crap office to remote […] isn't really fair.

It's fair for the majority of people who can only get a crap office.

>If my first employer had told young 20-something Me "I'm afraid we're not going to let you come in and sit in this felt cube every day after all. Instead we're going to ask that you fly to Thailand and work from a laptop on the beach from here on out.", I would not have reacted by explaining how work is a social thing that needs to happen in person.

I'd kill for a felt cube.

You can create the illusion of a cubicle through VR goggles. Just download the cubicle app.

I actually hope that VR progresses to a point where one can work in it all day. The idea of having 8 virtual high resolution monitors set in any environment sounds awesome to me (amongst other advantages of VR). Unfortunately VR is still just way too low resolution for this to work today. As well as too uncomfortable to wear for 8 hours a day.

Many peasants wanted to defent their tyranical king, that sort of thing.

Amen brother.

My belief is not that people should be free to choose what they want as long as they choose exactly what I want.

I know I will socialize so much more online than in person and the 10-second commute is exquisitely delightful.

You didn't get what OP is saying. The point is not that nobody wants remote work. The point is that today the office is an important part of our social life, and as long as we don't find a replacement people will be willing to go back to the office. Not all the people would want that, not going every day at the office either. But having an office so that you can socialize is today required by a lot of people to be happy in their life

But that is exactly what the article says. It's not going to be all remote all the time, just more than before.

Our survey evidence says that about 25 percent of all full work days will be supplied from home after the pandemic ends, compared with just 5 percent before.

> and as long as we don't find a replacement people will be willing to go back to the office

Isn't it about time we found a replacement? Why should the thing that gives us a social life, the thing that gives us money, and the thing that gives us a sense of fulfillment all have to be provided by an employer?