How do you replicate water cooler talk in a fully remote environment? Do people do work while tuned in to a meeting where anyone can drop in and talk to them?
I couldn't handle that level of distraction, but some of them clearly enjoyed it.
i've been at companies with 10 people and 10s of thousands and in between and obviously this stops holding true at a fairly small number of employees. but there are plenty of companies of the size that this works for fine.
For some people, face-to-face makes it easier for them to get to know co-workers and develop a solid working relationship with them. Also, those face-to-face interactions often result in benefits for the company, as you often do still end up talking about things related to work, and valuable ideas can be exchanged that would not otherwise have been. Even if you don't talk about work things, knowing your co-workers well can be a benefit to the company. Obviously there are cases where you don't want to know an abrasive person well, so it varies.
Your post sounds like you are saying in-office work is obsolete due to it being an "old-fashioned idea" (unless I am reading you wrong). If that is the case, I would caution against the possibility thinking newer is always better, because it clearly isn't always. Again, as I said, I prefer remote work, but I also understand why others don't. The same work model is not best for everyone in the world.