What are some well known or well regarded arguments against investing?

I think you're confusing risk analysis (that is what you quoted as "Taleb Distribution") with arguments against taking risks altogether.

You need to understand that not taking a risk - is by itself a risk. You can lose money by not investing it, because of the very same Taleb Distribution: an unpredictable catastrophic event.

Take an example of keeping cash in your house and not investing it anywhere. In the 1998 default of the Russian Federation, people lost money by not investing it. Why? Because had they invested the money - they would have the investments/properties, but since they only had cash - it became worthless overnight.

There's no argument for or against investing on its own. The arguments are always related to the investment goals and the risk analysis.

You're looking for something that doesn't exist.

Oh, geez, well-regarded arguments against investing, hmm? Well, I have a couple. They're not against investing per se. They're asking about your priorities and whether you might have something better to do than investing:

And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: and he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.

But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

— Luke 12:16-21

Christian or otherwise, there may be better things for you to do with your excess cash — indeed, with your life — than simply invest it to bring yourself more money. Many people find charitable contributions more important than spending a little more money on themselves (immediately or in the future). Of course, you will need to decide what these things are that matter to you. Perhaps you would like to contribute to traditional charities. Perhaps you would like to fund education, or a religious organization, or the Democratic Party, or the Republican Party, or the Libertarian Party, or the Green Party, or the Tea Party, or Occupy Wall Street. Perhaps you'd like to fund research into something. Perhaps you simply have friends and family that you want to make happy. Perhaps a small vacation to spend time with family is worth more to you now than the investment returns will be worth later.

Moreover, note that economic decisions like this are made on the margin — it's not so much a question of whether you invest at all, but whether you should invest more or less, and spend/donate more or less.

I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards: I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits: I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees: I got me servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me: I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I got me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts.

So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me. And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labor: and this was my portion of all my labor. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labor that I had labored to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.

— Ecclesiastes 2:4-11

Because in the long run, we're all dead.

Anywho! It's all a matter of returns and risk analysis. Even spending on yourself and charitable giving can be thought in these terms (the returns are not 'more money', so they may be harder to analyze, but they're important too).

There are two interpretations of your question.

Every dollar you earn must be either invested or spent. That is, you keep the dollar in the form of a capital asset, one that you expect to return more than its cost over time, or a non-capital asset, like a beer a movie-ticket, or a shirt, that you will simply enjoy consuming or owning.

(Very few purchases, like a house and an education, can be regarded as both capital or non-capital, but ignore that for now.)

Obviously, no one argues that you should never spend and always invest (you'd starve in a week), or always spend and never invest (you'd starve in the first downturn in your income).

There are those that argue that investment has been over-emphasized. The most famous proponent of this theory was John Maynard Keynes, who discusses the so-called Paradox of Thrift in his work The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. People who believe this will generally argue for moving income from investment-preferring classes to spending-preferring classes via such strategies as progressive taxation and the minimum wage.

But your edits suggest that you are interested not in investment vs. spending, but in high-risk investing (like stocks and commodities) vs. low-risk investing (like CDs, savings account, and cash).

But make no mistakes, every investment has risk: gold can be stolen, government bonds can be defaulted on. Something can always go wrong.

Every person has some appetite for risk. One person might keep all his money under his mattress, while his twin brother is buying into tech startups.

Your question seems to be, is there an argument that people systematically take on more risk than they should?

Yes, some people:

• someone who invests other peoples' money will often participate in the upside but not in the downside. "Money-managers" for example, might charge 2% of the principle but 20% of the return. This creates an agency problem, and they will choose riskier investments than their clients would have.
• some people simply enjoy risk. A dollar won is far more pleasant than a dollar lost is unpleasant. This can manifest itself in gambling addiction (and investing is just a form of gambling with a positive expected return).

But just like the investing/spending decision, the low-risk/high-decision is a personal one, based on personal preferences and personal situations. It's difficult, and somewhat arrogant, to make an argument for the decisions made by billions of individual people being categorically wrong.