> If people want to "invest," they'll figure out more pro-social ways to do it than the stock market

Here are 99% of the things you can invest in as a person without a very large amount of capital:

- real estate (your own home or rental units)

- bonds (another security - same issue as equities in your analysis)

- private business

Are any of those inherently more pro-social than equities?

The stock market encompasses both WSB speculators and “buy and hold forever” investors.