>The internet and cell phones obviate so much of what was once done at the office, which is, after all, largely an artifact of the 20th century thanks to the rise of mass transportation, the ability to build tall office buildings and the previous immovability of the “work” telephone, which was stuck to a desk. All this, thankfully, is going the way of the dodo.

This seems to me to have been forgotten as technology evolved over the last 2-3 decades. There was a time when you HAD to be in the office, because that was where your desk phone was, your desktop PC (including local software) was, the physical access point for your corporate network/applications was, etc. With laptops, smartphones, the internet, VPNs, SaaS applications, that hasn't been the case for a long time, Covid was just the CATALYST that forced people and companies to actually utilize the capabilities they already had.