To me it reads better when it's presented as something we can do for individuals, rather than as a generic solution for society. I don't want to be forced to go

To me it reads better when it's presented as something we can do for individuals, rather than as a generic solution for society. I don't want to be forced to go to the office so that somebody else can have a friend. I have plenty of friends -- friends who I don't get to see when I'm compelled to commute and spend "core hours" elsewhere. I'm prepared to give something of myself to help others. But I don't like the suspicion that this is yet another attempt to reinforce the previous status quo for a benefit that has little do with the ostensible problem. We've been talking about lonely people for years, even when most of them went into the office. Remote work is an opportunity to do something different. Use your flexibility to find common interest groups rather than befriending the arbitrary set of people you happen to be crammed into a room with. There are lots of ways we can facilitate that. That's a more interesting discussion than "let's do the same thing".