Some smart people will have to settle for the most desperate coworkers.

And some smart people find working remotely more fulfilling and focused.

It's a matter of preference, over time the companies who do RTO will attract talent that prefers that, remote companies will attract other ones. There are smart people in both cohorts to be alienated if forced to do the other option so I don't get the argument. It's self-selecting if the options exist, the pandemic opened Pandora's Box.