My guess is that he was being hyperbolic. But even if he weren't, you can still get something that has the same expected return over time as picking individual

My guess is that he was being hyperbolic. But even if he weren't, you can still get something that has the same expected return over time as picking individual stocks at random for a much lower up-front price by choosing a total stock market ETF. Remember that he was writing that comment at a time when the latter option didn't exist.