Exactly!

> one of the brakes for a return to normality

I hate how so many have simply defined "normal" as "exactly the way we all lived in November 2019" and then just assume that we must get back to precisely that. As if that moment in time represents some objective Normal Right Way to live. Framing that moment of time as "normal" is preventing us from moving forward to a new normal, with things like more opportunities for remote work and better in-office health-and-safety.

2019 was raging inequality and toxic corporate politics. We have an opportunity to do something about both right now. A lot of people are realizing that starting their own businesses is just as profitable and no less stable than a myriad of crappy McJobs.

Open offices were already a craptastic idea before the pandemic but no amount of data overrode their cost savings so they were portrayed as a perk. I'm pretty much Eric Cartman singing the social distance song by nature, but I get people don't all agree with that. That's your lightcone, not mine. May we never intersect.