[zamalek]

I hold an extreme view on the "work at home" situation: my working at home not only improves my life, but also the lives of those who work in jobs that causally require their presence (baristas, doctors, construction workers, etc.).

You're absolutely right, though: the office is a fantastic place to get a regular social fix. I absolutely understand where you're coming from, because social experiences are as important as food and water to humans, but here's the thing:

The concept of an office wasn't created to solve human socialization.

Why not try and solve the socialization problem, and ignore the notion of an office? Set up a lunch group with your street, see if you can create a coworking space in your apartment/condo building, rent a coworking space close to home, or something else. As a socialization solution, offices are a comfortable rut/local minimum.

You can absolutely have your e-commute, as well as your social experience. The problem is that we've been doing offices for so long, that we kinda forget that we need to rethink/replace what they were doing.

[saurik]

100%; and doing this correctly has the critical property of not causing your entire social circle to get destroyed because you decide you need to switch jobs for the good of your career.