The stock market is the world's biggest casino and the only game you can play is "chicken" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_(game)

The more disposable income and free time you have the more casinos look like an attractive venue for immediate self-gratification .

The stock market changed because society changed. People have much more disposable income, much more free time and a willingness to predict the next big thing and get rich quick as opposed to have long term sustained gains.

Probably a great deal to do with the fact that savings accounts, bonds, and CDs don't return the interest rates they used to. They certainly don't beat inflation.

So what's left? Stocks. An index fund will at least keep pace with inflation over a long period of time.

It's not just "get rich quick"; it's that most of the other options have been devalued to uselessness over just stuffing cash into mattresses.

Except Buffett is not referring to index investing but to stock picking. Mostly it's long with leverage on a single stock.

Most likely Tesla, GME, AMC.. If it's not stocks then it's crypto.

And crypto has precisely zero value unless enough people believe it does. Less intrinsic value in fact than tulips.

It will not end well.

As someone who has been investing since before the dot-com bust, it is immensely gratifying to see the WallStreetBets types discover that stocks can go down as well as up.

“I am shocked! Shocked!”