It is just a matter of how far out the risk curve you are willing to go. These projects are obviously at the pointy end (less so than the majority of rubbish in memeworld imo due to their real world ties and community), but because of that, you only need to invest a small portion of capital to win large. The issue, as always, is risk management, no matter where you are on the risk curve. 

Also, the one thing most never consider in all this is the frequency of opportunities. It is all well and good to avoid a seemingly risky opportunity because you do not want to lose, but if that one opportunity was your only chance at ever making substantial gains in your life, than the correct decision would have been take it. Even though the outcome may be improbable, sometimes that outcome is too important not to take the risk (this is the case for many who have not yet made their fortune). 

Once crypto reaches peak adoption and regulation, these trades will no longer exist with their current r/r. The equivalent in tradfi are VC funds punting start-ups at 10m seed rounds, or even $50m Series A rounds, who also end up losing 90% of their portfolio in the end... so what's the difference between the risk here and memes? a spreadsheet and a degree? The only difference I see is that normal people are barred from investing in start-ups until they IPO so retail just become the exit liquidity. 

The precise reason people are making a fortune in meme's is because it is the wild west and many will lose - but the fact remains, this may be the only chance in history normal people have a chance to make 100x, or 1000x on anything (no different r/r to VC funds). 

Whether it is probable or not is irrelevant... and like anything in life, if they lose, that's fine. It was a bet worth taking because these risk profiles will likely never happen again. Risk management is key. 

Anyway, very interesting to watch it all play out! I personally think meme's will evolve into simply being powerful community tokens utilised by brands/people/movements in the real world for their networks effects (BTC has been proof of this). Forget the chart, the price, the money... that is just a function to virally bring people together without the companies spending a cent. 

Lets see! In the meantime, it's refreshing to actually be having genuine fun whilst making money! I suspect this is also why people are so drawn to these communities