> While a lot of ink has been spilled on the future of work, the majority of Americans, and most people around the world, can’t actually do their jobs remotely.
Ok, so a majority of workers can't do their jobs remotely. Granted, many of these are not anchored to a city (medical offices are in the suburbs, truckers are mobile etc.) but a huge swath of people will still work in cities, at least part time. So this strikes me as another example of tech's myopia and why the tech world is increasingly disconnected from the majority of the country.
Simply put, most people can't work from home. Most people can't afford to buy a house 2 hours away from their office and hope to have the leverage to stay employed. Most people don't make six-figure salaries. Most people are afraid of lay-offs, are afraid of offshoring, are afraid of being antiquated.
And as I have said elsewhere, this almost obsessive focus on remote work could very well be very detrimental to those six-figure salaries and signing bonuses. Why pay USA wages when you can hire a Canadian or Mexican at 75% the cost? We are writing our own obituary and everyone seems to be cheering.
Finally, this is also a step _backwards_ for the environment. In cities like Boston, NYC, SFO etc. most workers commuted on public transit, at least part of the way or lived in dense neighborhoods not owning a car. Now they live in the exurbs and need a car to do anything. Now when they do go into the city they don't take public transit. People didn't stop living, they just moved out of the density and thus became more reliant on ICE vehicles to move about.
Much like the long-term damage of education loss was hard to quantify against the immediate risks of COVID, we will be paying the debt incurred by this almost cultish movement to make remote work the norm.