Yes base 2 is related to base 8 as base ten to 100s. But base 8 cant give so much advantages as you outlined about 12 in day-to-day arithmetics.
The other problem I see about changing to any other base is that even if our children learns it, they will need to be in an isolated world to use it. If some body mastered to base 12 writes the figure 10, it means twelve to him in base ten but to me it means ten. This would rather be a confussion between the older and younger generations.
Anyway, your post is superb and I see every point you made to be true.