The vast majority of jobs cannot be done remotely. The HN crowd is heavily skewed toward programming / engineering jobs that can sometimes be done remotely. But overall, most jobs do require a physical presence.

Think "people care" (and all the ramifications or that: babies, children, sick, elders + everything around that). All people working in stores (unless we exclusively want online shops). Transportation of goods. Building, sanitation, construction. Any job that requires specialised equipment (like factories), ... .

The whole idea that we can transition to a society where people don't have to move to get to work is an illusion. COVID gave us a false glimpse because most activities were closed or significantly reduced, so it felt like people didn't need to get to work anymore but that's just because they simply did not work. And it was not sustainable on the long run. We made the - right IMHO - choice to subsidise their income, wether directly via stimulas checks, or indirectly by helping their employers, but all that was based on the bet/assumption that we would be able to resume "normal society" and we would be able repay the debt we incurred over the next years.

This is a discussion I've had with a number of folks.

To shift to a world of "mostly" remote work in reality means the smaller population of higher paid desk workers working from home, and everyone else having to commute to in person jobs.

Worse if companies don't adjust wages to match local rates (per the protests of many tech workers) we end up with deep income disparity between the remote workers and in person ones. Bringing many of the problems of a place like SF to all the other locations.

It feels like something has to give, or the society that results is awfully dystopian.